British Airways announced a plane order worth $8.2 billion at list prices today.
The new aircraft, including 12 planes from Airbus and 24 airliners from Boeing, will replace 34 of the airline's longhaul fleet and will be delivered between 2010 and 2014, BA said.
The choice of the Airbus A380 superjumbo replaces BA's traditional choice of Boeing's 747 jumbo for its longhaul routes.
"The A380 will be used to provide more capacity for the airline's key high-density markets and maximise use of scarce Heathrow slots," said BA.
BA said it had also taken options for a further seven Airbus A380s and 18 Boeing 787s.
The airline said both aircraft types would be powered by Rolls-Royce engines.
The carrier has arranged for a group of banks to provide $1.5 billion of debt financing to cover all of the airline's firm orders to the end of 2011.
