The Ariane 5, making its sixth commercial launch, blasted off from ESA's launch pad here at 2251 GMT. The mission had been initially scheduled for March 2 but was delayed in order to make checks on the rocket.

Its payload was Eurobird, a three-tonne French-built satellite for the telecoms consortium Eutelsat, and the US-built 1.3-tonne BSAT-2a for the Japanese operator B-SAT.

Eurobird, the 19th Eutelsat satellite, will be placed in orbit above central Africa to provide voice and data links between Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

BSAT-2a, the 15th satellite launched by ESA for Japanese clients, will be positioned above the island of Borneo, providing links between Japan and Southeast Asia.