Many readers were saddened to hear the news that the Airbus A380 was to be discontinued. Many airlines fell out of love with the aircraft, claiming it was too expensive to run and hard to fill up. But if Airbus were to redesign the A380, could it be made profitable and attractive to carriers?

What are the problems with the A380?

Let's begin by looking at the key issues airlines had with the A380 and why they moved away from the aircraft type.

  • The capacity is too large. While it is undoubtedly impressive that the A380 can carry 525 passengers in a standard three-class configuration (and over 800 in an all-economy variant), more passengers mean more seats to fill for the aircraft to be profitable. With so much capacity on each aircraft, there was not much room left for other aircraft from the same airline to operate on the route. This means less frequency (you can see us debate the topic here) and less passenger flexibility.
  • Lack of routes. Touching on the above point, there are only so many routes in the world that can support a super-jumbo aircraft like the A380. Similarly, not many airports are configured to take the aircraft, as modifications are required to things like taxiways, gates, and runways.
  • The A380 is heavy. Coming in at 277 tonnes, the A380 is a massive aircraft that requires four powerful engines to get it off the ground. These engines are fuel-guzzling and require a huge amount of expensive jet fuel for each flight.
  • Lack of second-hand market. Flag carriers like to have new planes. Any plane over 10 years old starts to make them a little nervous, and they want to be able to replace them with a new aircraft when the time comes. The problem is, what to do with the older A380s? Singapore Airlines is starting to retire the aircraft (and replace them with A350s) but thus far has had trouble finding buyers, with Hi Fly being one of the only airlines to pick one up.
Singapore Airlines Airbus A380-800
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

Thus, these flaws need to be addressed in any sort of... A380neo version.

What would an A380neo look like?

Airbus has already floated the idea of an A380neo or A380plus. They list the following improvements over the original:

Lufthansa Airbus A350
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

But here at Simple Flying, we think we could take it a step further and introduce our own features.

  • A composite structure like the A350 or Boeing 787. By changing its construction material from solid metal to composites, the aircraft could be made much lighter (by up to 30-40%) and save a fortune in fuel
  • Folding wings. Like the Boeing 777X, by having larger wings (and thus cheaper to fly) that fold up when taxiing, the aircraft could fly to many more destinations not generally configured for an A380.

This would, unfortunately, make the aircraft more expensive to buy, but if placed on the correct route, it could make a lot of money.

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End of production

As Airbus stated, the production of the A380 ended in December 2021, with the last aircraft being delivered to the type's largest customer, Emirates. However, even before that, the aircraft type in question had an uncertain future with several operators. Air France was the first operator to completely retire the A380s from its fleet in favor of newer and greener twinjet aircraft.

Air France Airbus A380
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

Additionally, in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic locked down the whole world, airlines worldwide (apart from China Southern) grounded their entire fleet of A380s and other quad jets. Despite that, the airline industry adapted and recovered slowly amidst the appearance of new variants of COVID-19, and slowly the A380s began appearing in the skies again.

It is worth noting that some carriers used this opportunity to streamline their fleet with the early retirement of quad jets. Airlines such as Thai Airways, Malaysian Airlines, Lufthansa, Qatar Airways, and Etihad at the time did not see a future for the A380 within their future fleet.

The future

Despite great odds, the A380 is back in operation with many airlines that had previously written off the type from their fleet. This includes Qatar Airways, Lufthansa, and most recently, the Etihad A380 returned to service. Today, 10 of the 14 A380 operators continue to operate the type, albeit with lower numbers.

While currently, there are no plans by any manufacturers to build a super high-capacity aircraft; reports suggest that Emirates has been pushing the manufacturers to create a new A380-type high-capacity aircraft. In an interview with CNN in 2022, the airline's president, Sir Tim Clark, stated that the largest aircraft currently offered by the two manufacturers are the Boeing 777-9 and the Airbus A350-1000, both of which are small when compared to the A380 in terms of capacity.

Considering the rapid recovery of the aviation industry and the 4.5% annual increase in travel demand pre-pandemic, the current offerings will result in the supply of aircraft being unable to cope with increasing passenger demand, which would inevitably lead to a rise in ticket fares. With several major airports already facing capacity and slot constraints, Sir Tim Clark might have a point about the need for larger, high-capacity aircraft in the future.

Do you think another A380-type aircraft will be made in the future? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Source: CNN.

  • rsz_airbus_50th_years_anniversary_formation_flight_-_air_to_air
    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