British Airways ditches Boeing jumbo for Airbus A380

Another said that while Airbus had scored a major victory in selling the superjumbo to BA, it had missed a key opportunity to secure a deal for its newest plane, the A350 XWB, and selling it to BA would remain a priority for the planemaker.

Shares in BA had climbed 3 percent to 380 pence by 0848 GMT, while Rolls-Royce was up 1.3 percent to 527 pence, and Airbus parent EADS was up 1.3 percent at 21.4 euros.

BA has arranged for a group of banks to provide $1.5 billion of debt financing to cover its firm orders to the end of 2011.