• 

  Airbus

  Stock Code:

  AIR

  Date Founded:

  1970-12-18

  CEO:

  Guillaume Faury

  Headquarters Location:

  Toulouse, France

  Key Product Lines:

  Airbus A220, Airbus A320, Airbus A330, Airbus A340, Airbus A350, Airbus A380

  Business Type:

  Planemaker

Has the Airbus A380 been written off too early by airlines, operators and sections of the aviation industry at large? The commercial aviation landscape has changed dramatically in the last two to three years and the shambolic state it's in today can't all be attributed to just COVID-19. The environment has changed and, when viewed with the benefit of hindsight, some of the decisions around the A380 may not be as convincing as they once were.According to the Airbus Orders and Deliveries report for May, there have been 251 A380s delivered to 14 customers, with 243 listed as 'still in operation', although that term is not defined. For a clearer picture, data from ch-aviation.com shows there are 104 A380s currently active, 128 inactive and 11 scrapped, written off, or on display. The data lists seven of the original airlines as active users, British Airways, China Southern Airlines, Emirates, Korean Air, Qantas, Qatar Airways, and Singapore Airlines. Those who are not using any of their A380s are Air France, All Nippon Airlines, Asiana Airlines, Lufthansa, Malaysian Airlines, and Thai Airways. All of the active users have some of their fleet on the inactive list.

Emirates has kept their faith in the A380

With 116 A380s in its fleet, including 74 on the active list, Emirates, and its president Tim Clark have never lost faith in the aircraft. From the sidelines of the IATA congress this week, Reuters reported that Clark told reporters: "Everybody's been struggling with capacity. I've watched it all; people saying that the [A380] trend is over." He recalled saying at the time that if you do that you will regret it, adding that "Now what happens is you are having to reactivate A380s."

While some airlines were quick to retire the aircraft, others like Singapore Airlines and Qantas kept the super-jumbo in their post-COVID plans. In 2020 Qantas sent its fleet of 12 A380s to the desert, but by August last year, it was already talking about bringing them back into service. At that time Qantas said it was planning to bring back five of the aircraft by the middle of this year and a further five by 2024, with two retired.

Six had been refurbished with new interiors and that program resumed in August when one of the A380s went to Germany for its upgrade. The airline has three back in service, with two more soon to arrive, flying them on Sydney and Melbourne to Los Angeles routes and this week resumed A380 services to London Heathrow Airport (LHR).

Similarly, Singapore Airlines brought two of its A380s back from the Australian desert in July 2021. It created quite a dust storm as it took off from Alice Springs Airport in the center of Australia and today the airline has ten A380s back in service. In 2018, Singapore Airlines retired its first A380 and sent it to storage in France, where it was later broken down for parts, with some of the fuselage made into luggage tags.

Time to go back to work

The A380 economics were challenging, exacerbated by rising fuel costs, which made Boeing's B787 and 777X attractive options. Airlines saw the Airbus A350, the B787, and B777X as better choices, with direct point-to-point routes replacing hub and spoke models. Today's surge in pent-up demand is proving the A380 still has a place in long-haul services, such as from Australia, Singapore, the UK and Dubai.

As for the choices, Boeing decided to unilaterally put the B777X program on hold for a year, pushing deliveries out to at least 2025, and today it's still unable to deliver a new B787. Added to that, Airbus has 440 A350s in backlog, so getting hold of one is not a simple matter. Passengers love the comfort of the A380, quality airlines are refurbishing their cabins and Emirates is introducing a stunning premium economy in August.

The decisions made on the A380 just a couple of years ago look somewhat shaky with no certainty on when a replacement will be available. Have some airlines retired the A380 too soon?

Discover more aviation news here.

Source: Reuters