A380 - What happens next?

With Lufthansa bringing aircraft back into service and Qantas breaking them up, what is the future for the Toulouse Jumbo?


Lufthansa is reactivating the Airbus A380 in response to the steep rise in customer demand and delayed aircraft deliveries.  The airline expects to use the long-haul aircraft, which is very popular with customers and crews, for summer 2023.

The A380 made its first flight 27 April 2005, and the final aircraft, of 251, was delivered to Emirates, the largest customer with 123 units, on 16 December 2021.  

There were many milestones including the maiden legal (certificated) flight with the press and Airbus principals on board in December 2006.  In theory the aircraft can carry 863 passengers but typically British Airways, with its 12-strong fleet, and four classes, carries 469 travellers looked after by up to 21 cabin staff.

Lufthansa is typical of the airlines in a quandary of ‘what to do’. The company has 14 Airbus A380s, which are currently parked in Spain and France for long-term so-called “deep storage”. Six of these aircraft have already been sold, eight A380s remain part of the Lufthansa fleet for the time being. Air France has disposed of its fleet, which when new flew Heathrow – Charles de Gaulle sectors mainly for staff training.  According to Emirates' Sir Tim Clark the aircraft will be around “for years”.  Singapore Airlines is also expected to keep the aircraft in service into the future, but Korean, one of only a handful of operators, says they will all be gone by 2026.

And what of the Boeing 747, its much earlier commercially successful (1,570 delivered) rival, still in production, just, with the two US Presidential aircraft symbolically last to be delivered.  Just a handful of passenger aircraft remain in airline service.  The cargo version could be around for another 50 years.

www.boeing.com/commercial/index.page

www.airbus.com/en/products-services/commercial-aircraft/passenger-aircraft/a380

Index/Home page
 

OUR READERS' FINEST WORDS (All times and dates are GMT)

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 100 words maximum