British Airways is planning to send its Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft on Asian routes, which will potentially open up new connection options for Australians heading for the UK or connecting through London Heathrow.

BA's A380s are heading for Hong Kong, Beijing and Singapore, as well as over the Atlantic to New York, while the 787s will be "opening new destinations in the east, in Asia specifically," the chief financial officer of BA's parent company IAG told Bloomberg.

The first delivery of a British Airways A380 will be next year, with twelve currently on order. Looking to 2013 and beyond, BA's A380s are likely to provide useful connection options for Qantas passengers, especially those combining an Asian business trip with an onward connection to Europe.

All Qantas' London-bound passengers connecting in Hong Kong and Bangkok will be put on BA flights at the end of March, when the Red Roo consolidates all its Europe flights via Singapore.

British Airways' own Sydney-London flights will also drop to one daily, via Singapore, at the end of the month -- a destination tipped to receive the A380. It's not yet clear whether BA's superjumbos will continue on from Singapore to Sydney, as one of BA's current flights does.

And with the new Asian flights (and a safe bet that Chinese destinations are involved) BA is planning to serve with its 787s, Qantas passengers connecting onwards from more destinations than just Hong Kong, Beijing and Singapore will see new options -- and newer planes.

There are numerous reasons for business travellers to love the new 787, as we explain in our on-the-plane article.

Newer planes like the 787 and the A380 are quieter than previous generation aircraft, come with newer entertainment systems (and sometimes Internet connections), and the composite materials used in their construction allows for a less dehydrating cabin atmosphere.