• 

  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

Summary

• The Airbus A380 faces uncertain futures with airlines such as Air France retiring their fleet while others like British Airways plan to continue using them until at least the end of the decade.
• Some airlines are keeping their A380s grounded or using them for special flights due to low demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Emirates remains the largest operator of the A380 and plans to continue using them until the mid-2030s, partially due to capacity needs and not wanting to scrap new aircraft.

The Airbus A380 is the world's largest passenger aircraft. Built in the early 2000s to compete with the rival Boeing 747, the European manufacturer suspended the operation less than 14 years after its introduction. The "Giant of the Skies" can accommodate 525 passengers in a typical configuration and up to 853 in a single-class configuration.

Hauling that many passengers from point A to point B requires sufficient demand on the serviced route. Moreover, an aircraft of this size with four massive engines is highly uneconomical to operate, particularly when the occupancy rates are low.

As global airlines were already eyeing twinjets for their future use, the COVID-19 pandemic further tarnished the future of quadjets, including the A380. While some airlines have completely scrapped their fleet of A380s, others, such as Emirates and British Airways, plan to use their fleet until at least the end of this decade.

In recognition of the Airbus A380's 19th birthday, we decided to break down what is happening to each fleet of Airbus A380s by airline. We used data from our friends at ch-aviation, along with other sources listed at the end of the article.

Air France

The Airbus A380 entered the Air France fleet in 2009, with the airline taking ten aircraft. Even before the arrival of the pandemic, Air France had signaled the end of the Airbus A380 program, with the first aircraft operating its last revenue flight on December 31st, 2019. This aircraft, F-HPJB, took its final flight to Knock, Ireland, on February 20th, where it was dismantled.

On May 20th, 2020, Air France revealed that the Airbus A380 would not be returning to service alongside the pandemic recovery. The remaining aircraft remain stored in two locations operated by Tarmac Aerosave. Four examples, all owned by DS Aviation, are still listed as available for sale or operating lease.

All Nippon Airways

All Nippon Airways (ANA) was the last customer to take delivery of its first new Airbus A380 and also had the smallest order of new Airbus A380s. The carrier, Japan's largest, purchased three of the Super Jumbo intending to operate them solely between Tokyo Narita and Honolulu in Hawaii.

While the airline kept the three A380s grounded for some time, it brought back its A380s on the NRT-HNL route in August last year. Since December 6th, 2023, the airline has operated the fleet twice daily on the route.

Asiana Airlines

Asiana Airlines is one of two South Korean airlines to operate the giant of the skies. The carrier hasn't announced any firm retirement plans for the jet, though reports have suggested that the aircraft could be retired within half a decade.

Asiana Airlines did have the Airbus A380 on the schedule from March last year, though, just a couple of months before the type was due to return to service, it was pushed back by another half year. As it stands today, however, the carrier has all six A380s in service.

British Airways

British Airways seems to be one of the most committed airlines to Airbus' A380 by choice. The UK flag carrier brought back the giant of the skies late in 2022 and has signed maintenance agreements covering all 12 aircraft until August 2027.

All but three aircraft in the British Airways A380 fleet are undergoing maintenance. The other nine are active and in service with the airline.

China Southern Airlines

China Southern was the only airline to keep operating the giant of the skies right throughout the pandemic. However, as it stands today, the Chinese carrier does not have any active A380s. The airline has since retired all of its A380 aircraft at the Mojave location in California.

Earlier this month, one of the retired China Southern A380s (B-6140) was acquired by Global Airlines; the aircraft's new registration is 9H-GLOBL.

Emirates

Unsurprisingly, Emirates remains the largest operator of the Airbus A380 by a considerable margin. The airline took delivery of 121 Airbus A380s, including the last one to be built by Airbus. 88 are currently active across the Emirates network, while 31 are either in storage or maintenance.

Emirates plans to operate the Airbus A380 until the mid-2030s, but this is partly not through choice. Firstly, the airline won't want to be seen scrapping lots of relatively young aircraft. Secondly, Emirates would have a vast capacity deficit without the Airbus A380.

With that being said, two of the Emirates Airbus A380 fleet have been dismantled to date. Emirates dismantled its oldest A380, A6-EDA, in-house. Meanwhile, A6-EDB was scrapped in Tarbes, France (LDE). Airbus is set to auction parts of this second scrapped A380.

Read More: Airbus To Auction Parts Of Emirates' 2nd A380

Etihad Airways

Just down the road from Emirates is Etihad Airways. While also based in the UAE, Etihad took a much smaller order of just ten Airbus A380s. Last year, the carrier brought back four of its superjumbos to service, with the remaining six still in storage.

While it seems increasingly unlikely that the A380 will return to service for Etihad, its CEO, Tony Douglas, has refused to rule this out. In August 2021, Douglas revealed that the A380 could be economical if load factors return and that "Nothing would give us greater satisfaction." Etihad's A380 fleet has an average age of just 6.7 years.

Hi Fly

Hi Fly has been the only second-hand user of the Airbus A380, and it looks as though things will stay this way moving forward. The airline took MSN 6 after it had served almost a decade with Singapore Airlines as 9V-SKC.

Hi Fly had hoped there would be a big market for a wet lease Airbus A380, though this failed to materialize even before the COVID-19 pandemic. Ultimately, the pandemic rendered the aircraft's services largely unwanted, and Hi Fly decided that a wet lease A380 was not economical. As such, the plane was retired.

Korean Air

Korean Air has also followed a strange approach with its fleet of Airbus A380 aircraft. At the height of the pandemic, the Korean carrier grounded its entire fleet at Seoul Incheon Airport (ICN). On September 28th, a single A380 (MSN 68) completed a test flight. Since then, the aircraft has been flying to Guangzhou, China, around once a week while the remainder of the fleet remains grounded. The aircraft, HL7614, also completed four rotations to Atlanta in October and November 2020, according to Flightradar24.

Asiana Airlines is set to merge with Korean Air; when this goes ahead, the carrier's Airbus A380 fleet will balloon to 16 aircraft, making it the second-largest in the world. As it stands, four A380s in the Korean Air fleet are in service, while the remaining six are parked.

Lufthansa

Like Air France, Lufthansa was one of the few airlines to confirm that the Airbus A380 would not return to service. The airline used the type for repatriation flights and kept a contingent stored at Frankfurt Airport for around a year.

All 14 of Lufthansa's Airbus A380s remained registered with the airline, and like the Air France and Etihad fleets, they were spread between the two Tarmac Aerosave facilities in Tarbes, France, and Teruel, Spain. But despite the above information, last year, the airline brought back four of its A380s to service. The other three aircraft are parked while one is undergoing maintenance in Manila (MNL).

Malaysia Airlines

Malaysia Airlines had six Airbus A380s in its fleet, and for a while, the carrier's entire Airbus A380 fleet was in storage at Kuala Lumpur Airport, unlikely that any of them would return to service. Last summer, the airline placed all six of its A380s on sale, though not as you might expect. The company issued an open tender notice on LinkedIn.

According to information available on Planespotters.net, all six of them are now in the care of Airbus Financial Services, stored at Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrenees Airport (LBE). Simple Flying had previously asked the Malaysian flag carrier's COO if taking the A380 was a mistake, to which he said the aircraft was the right decision at the time.

Read more: Malaysia Airlines GCOO Says Ordering The Airbus A380 Wasn't A Mistake

Qantas

At the height of the pandemic, the weather forecast wasn't looking good for the Australian flag carrier's fleet of Airbus A380 aircraft. Qantas' entire fleet was sent to California for long-term storage, with many wondering if they would ever leave.

Fortunately for fans of the Super Jumbo, Qantas steadily returned several of its Airbus A380s to service, with the first ones resuming flights to Los Angeles towards the start of 2022. Currently, according to ch-aviation, eight are active, and two are still stored.

Qatar Airways

While Malaysia Airlines doesn't think the Airbus A380 was a mistake, Qatar Airways' CEO would beg to differ. Speaking to Simple Flying in 2021, Akbar Al Baker called the Airbus A380 the airline's biggest mistake. That hasn't stopped the flag carrier from bringing the jets back, though.

For a while, Qatar Airways was embroiled in a highly publicized dispute regarding another Airbus product, the A350. At the time, a large portion of its A350 fleet was grounded, and the A380 was "reluctantly" brought back to life to ensure the airline didn't sacrifice too much capacity. Eight of ten aircraft in the airline's fleet are now back in service.

Singapore Airlines

Singapore Airlines was the launch customer of the Airbus A380 and the second-largest carrier behind Emirates. The airline took delivery of 24 examples, though it became the first to start retiring the giant of the skies as early as 2018.

Singapore Airlines has since retired several of its original A380s, though only seven seem to have been deregistered according to ch-aviation's data. (9V-SKA through 9V-SKE, 9V-SKG, and 9V-SKH). One of the airline's A380s became the Hi Fly A380 mentioned above. Meanwhile, a couple have been scrapped in Tarbes, while the airline also scrapped two in-house at Singapore Changi Airport.

Thai Airways

Last but not least on our list of Airbus A380 operators is Thai Airways. While the airline was facing extreme difficulties at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, it recently took delivery of two brand-new Boeing 777s, suggesting that things are on the up for Thailand's flag carrier.

The future of the Thai Airways Airbus Super Jumbo fleet is unsurprisingly bleak, with some conflicting reports. Still, the underlying line appears to be that Thai Airways likely won't resume Airbus A380 flights. In late 2020, it was reported that the airline was looking to sell two of its A380s, and in February 2021, it was reported that the airline would retire all its A380s. As of 2023, the airline is selling all its six A380s in an "as-is, where-is" condition. They are no longer listed on ch-aviation, though the last known locations are listed below.

Have you ever flown on an Airbus A380? Let us know which ones you've flown on in the comments below!

Sources: ch-aviation.com, MyAirTrade, FlightRadar24.com