Air France's decision to immediately retire all of its Airbus A380 fleet is a major blow to the future of the Airbus A380 model. Even loyal Airbus customers such as Emirates have also recently considered early retirement of dozens of double-decker A380s, especially after the Covid 19 outbreak hit.
Air France Airbus Double Decker A380
At the end of March, there were 237 Airbus A380s in airworthy condition, and 9 more still to be delivered. As the long-haul flight network has slumped as a consequence of the Covid-19 outbreak, many of the A380 model aircraft are currently in storage.
So what about the future of the A380?
Air France confirmed on May 20 that its airline has decided to retire all nine A380 models with immediate effect. The retirement plan should have been a gradual phase until the end of 2022 but in the context of the crisis due to the Covid-19 outbreak, this phase was accelerated. Air France will take a 500 million euro loss on its A380 fleet.
Lufthansa announced on April 7 that it will be retiring six of its fourteen A380 models permanently due to the context of the Covid-19 outbreak. Prior to the outbreak, Lufthansa initially agreed to wait for the retirement of six A380s until 2021.
Lufthansa Technik will convert the A380 for passengers into a cargo plane. Passenger seats will be taken out and the aircraft cabin will be modified to accept cargo.
Emirates is the largest operator with 115 A380 type aircraft. This week, Bloomberg cited sources as saying that Emirates will retire 46 of its A380 models as soon as possible. Supposedly Emirates plans to have a total of 162 A380 models according to the Airbus order book. Emirates has placed all 115 A380 models in its garage.
Qantas Australia has parked all of its A380s on 30 March, after announcing a 90 per cent reduction in international routes. On April 5, Airinsight heard unconfirmed rumors from sources within Qantas that the airline was studying a post-Covid scenario in which Qantas would retire half its A380 fleet. Only six A380 aircraft will return to service.
Airbus double-decker A380 cabin interior
China Southern is the most active A380 operator since April. Prior to Covid, China Southern operated the A380 on several domestic routes (mainly Beijing-Guangzhou) plus to Los Angeles, Sydney and Melbourne. The airline has even planned to start summer service to London Heathrow.
Etihad is considering retiring ten A380s, Reuters reported on May 21 citing anonymous sources that the airline had suspended all flights from March 25 for two weeks.
Qatar Airways' CEO Akbar Al Baker said in an interview in May that the airline is likely to permanently park all A380s from now on. This will be a heavy blow for the double-decker model A380 aircraft. Prior to Covid-19, Al Baker was still hinting at retiring its A380 in 2024.
Korean Air has retired all 10 of its A380 fleet. Last active service on 7 March. In this context, it is still unclear what Korean Air's plans for the A380 are going forward.
Asiana Airlines has parked its entire fleet of six A380s at Seoul Incheon since March 10.
Lufthansa aircrafts parked in Brandenburg, Shonefeld
Malaysia Airlines have started to park their A380 fleet in recent years even before Covid-19. Two A380s indicated they were in storage, and one A380 was operational for cargo service to London on 28 April.
Singapore Airlines has a fleet of 19 A380s currently parked on the airport runway since late March as the airline reduces capacity by more than 90 percent. Singapore Airlines still cannot predict when it will resume operating long-haul routes using this type of double-decker aircraft, and it could be a long time before we see the A380 fly back into the sky.
British Airways has placed all 12 A380s in storage. Of these, nine are stored in France at the Chateauroux airport. British Airways still expects to be able to operate normally in 2022, but is still seeing what the situation will be with the A380 fleet.
Malaysia Airlines has started to park its A380 fleet in recent years even before Covid-19. Two A380s indicated they were in storage, and one A380 was operational for cargo service to London on 28 April.
The future of the A380 with Thai Airways is the least certain given the uncertainty of the airline itself. Unconfirmed reports say that Thai Airways is considering phasing out the A380 model as the aircraft has too much operating costs.
All Nippon Airways has suspended service to Honolulu and two A380s are parked at Tokyo Narita. The other two A380s have just started a test program for April delivery, however these have been postponed until October.
