Hamburg - Stepping up output of its giant A380 plane, Airbus opened a second delivery centre Friday in the German city of Hamburg.

Reflecting its Franco-German heritage, the company builds the hulls of the two-deck planes in Toulouse, France and paints them and fits the seats in Hamburg, sharing out most of the work equally.

The delivery centre is an office block for the use of customers when they check out a plane before paying for it. They spend several days trying out the controls, watching videos from every seat and test-flying the jet for up to six hours before flying it away.

Out of 192 firmly ordered A380 planes, 113 for customers in the Middle East and Europe are scheduled to be handed over at the centre in Hamburg. The other A380 delivery centre, in Toulouse, will hand over new planes to Asian customers.

"This building is named after the father of the A380," said Airbus chief executive Thomas Enders.

Juergen Thomas was the engineer who led the development of the plane, which has taken over from the Boeing 747 as the world's biggest commercial airliner. The first delivery through the site will be to the airline Emirates on July 28. (dpa)