The first A400M is flying today from Seville to Toulouse following a test flight performed in the Seville area.

Following a series of three flights on consecutive days the Airbus Military A400M airlifter MSN1 has now completed a total of seven flights and clocked up 30hr 20min block time.

The first Airbus Military A400M military airlifter has landed back in Seville, Spain today at 14:02 local time (13:02 UTC) after completing a successful maiden flight lasting 3h 47min following its take-off at 10:15 local time.

As final preparations continue for the first flight of the A400M military airlifter, Airbus Military has announced details of the highly experienced six-man crew that will conduct the operation from Seville, Spain.

The Airbus Military A400M airlifter has moved under its own power for the first time as the aircraft began its programme of taxying tests.

Airbus Military achieved a key milestone in the A400M military airlifter programme when all four Europrop International (EPI) TP400 turboprops on the aircraft were run simultaneously for the first time on November 18th.

Tom Enders, CEO of Airbus, visited yesterday the A400M Final Assembly Line at San Pablo in Seville and met with engineers conducting the ground tests of the new A400M military airlifter, as well as with some of the flight crew preparing the aircraft for its first flight.

The first Airbus Military A400M has been handed over to the Airbus "Flight Test" organisation on 12 November, paving the way to the beginning of the various ground tests which are to be performed before the aircraft takes to the air before year end. The purpose of these ground tests is to verify that all aircraft systems, powerplant and flight test instrumentation work properly, in order to ensure a safe First Flight, and subsequently an efficient flight test campaign.

The first A400M (MSN1) has left the Final Assembly Line (FAL) on 2nd September, to be moved to the next ground test station which now is outdoors. This follows satisfactory completion of all indoor ground testing on station 35. Those included verification and checks of all the systems and of the modifications and improvements that were embodied into MSN1 over the past months to make it a more mature aircraft at First Flight.

Amsterdam, 9 January 2009 – Airbus Military and EADS have proposed a new programme approach for the A400M to the Launch Nations, through OCCAR, with the aim to find a way forward for this programme.