World's largest aircraft the Airlander 10 is fitted with fins and engines ahead of its first flight (6)

In its new position nearer the doors of its hangar, the £80 million aircraft (pictured) has now been fitted with its engine, fins and 'mission module'. The date of the test flight has not been announced but the craft will be restricted to a 70-mile (112km) radius. If successful, an aircraft based on this prototype will go into production

It can take off and land vertically like a helicopter, which means it does not need a long runway to operate.

British firm Hybrid Air Vehicles was originally one of the contractors developing the vessel for the US Army under a $500million programme scrapped in 2012.

The company then bought the rights to develop the Airlander for commercial use - including use as a passenger aircraft that will carry 48 people at a time.

The vessel will also offer business services such as coastguard duties, military and civil surveillance, filming and academic research.

Engineers are hoping eventually to launch a sleeper service which could travel overnight between major cities for business customers.

Among the wealthy figures backing the project is Iron Maiden lead singer Bruce Dickinson, who has invested around £250,000 ($360,000) in the Airlander, as well as Carol Vorderman.

In its military incarnation, the aircraft previously embarked on a test flight in New Jersey, but the lift-off on 31 October was the first time the civilian version had left the ground.

In a blog post, Hybrid Air Vehicles explained: 'Already this month there have been a number of major attachments under the hull in preparation for the forthcoming First Flight of Airlander, beginning with the fuel module at the rear of the aircraft, followed by the payload beam, (which will support bulky external cargo) and finally, the cockpit and payload bay (which we term the Mission Module) were attached this week.'

The craft did carry out a test flight in 2012 in New Jersey (pictured) but next month's take-off will be the first under the hybrid aircraft's latest specifications. Some have hailed the Airlander as the future of air travel because, unlike conventional aeroplanes, it emits little pollution and is not noisy enough to disturb people on the ground