The first A380 in commercial service took off from Singapore Changi bound for Sydney in October 2007, over 14 years ago. Since then, the number of A380 flights has climbed gradually, peaking at almost 125,000 in 2017. As British Airways and Qatar Airways both resume double-decker service, we look back.

Lufthansa, Airbus A380, Final Flight
Photo: Tom Boon - Simple Flying

870,548 A380 flights thus far

Between October 2014 and the end of 2021, there have been over 870,000 scheduled A380 flights, Cirium data indicates. That's non-stop and one-stop combined, but it excludes charter flights, positioning, training, and so on.

In 2008, the first full year, Singapore Airlines' Sydney service was joined by Beijing, Heathrow, and Tokyo Narita. Emirates introduced the quadjet to Heathrow and JFK and Qantas from Los Angeles to Melbourne and Sydney.

It wasn't until 2016 that A380 flights passed 100,000, with just shy of 114,000 recorded, a jump of 19% year-over-year. While inevitably primarily driven by Emirates (+33%), it was also from higher use by Etihad, British Airways, Asiana, Qatar Airways, and Qantas.

A380 flights since its introduction in late 2007
A380 flights in 2021 are just 11% of what they were only two years ago, the result of fewer operators and Emirates recovering use only shallowly. Source: Cirium.

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15 operators in all

Some 15 operators have used the double-decker, as shown below. These include Hi Fly, which retired its sole example (9H-MIP) a year ago in December 2020. It was the world's sixth-built A380 and entered Singapore Airlines' fleet in 2008, less than half a year after the first revenue-generating service took off.

Multiple airlines wet-leased it, including Air Austral, Air Senegal, Air Madagascar, Corsair, Estelar, Norwegian, and Thomas Cook. Most were one-offs, such as between Paris and Antananarivo on just one occasion as Air Madagascar's own A340s underwent unexpected maintenance.

In terms of scheduled services, the ranking of those operators were:

  1. Emirates: approximately 415,874 scheduled services in total
  2. Singapore Airlines: 112,973
  3. Qantas. 61,640
  4. Lufthansa: 51,455
  5. Air France: 40,383
  6. Korean Air: 34,061
  7. British Airways: 29,818
  8. Qatar Airways: 26,104
  9. Etihad Airways: 23,520
  10. Thai Airways: 23,432
  11. China Southern: 21,875
  12. Asiana: 16,053
  13. Malaysia Airlines: 12,485
  14. All Nippon: 818
  15. Hi Fly: 57 (more if charters and positioning flights are added)
Singapore Airlines, Airbus A380, London Heathrow
Singapore Airlines resumed A380 service last month. Photo: Getty Images.

The peak year was 2017

Emirates has thus far had almost half (48%) of all A380 flights. Because of this overwhelming dominance and the carrier's flights across all aircraft declined between 2016 and 2019, the peak year for the double-decker was 2017.

Some 13 airlines used it in 2017, with over 150 destinations, including the ultra-short 235-mile (378km) link to Doha before the blockade began. It was a time when Qantas served Heathrow via Dubai, which replaced long-standing Singapore, and Emirates served Christchurch via Sydney.

Air France also used it from Paris CDG to Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. It has high premium demand in normal times, with an average one-way fare of $866 in 2019, booking data indicates.

A380 routes 2017
All these routes saw the A380 in peak year 2017. Image: GCMap.

Routes included various one-offs, such as Emirates to Bahrain, Boston, Colombo, Medinah, and Warsaw, and Air France to Atlanta. While Emirates' Heathrow service had the most flights, as always, it was followed by Dubai-Bangkok and, less expectedly, Etihad's Abu Dhabi-Heathrow offering was third.

What is your best A380 memory? Share them in the comments.