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  British Airways

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  BA/BAW

  Airline Type:

  Full Service Carrier

  Hub(s):

  London Heathrow Airport, London Gatwick Airport

  Year Founded:

  1974

  Alliance:

  oneworld

  Airline Group:

  IAG

  CEO:

  Sean Doyle

  Country:

  United Kingdom

If it sticks to the current schedule, British Airways will exceed its pre-pandemic Airbus A380 operations by the end of the year. Currently, 495 Airbus A380 flights are planned for August 2022, up 7% from August 2019. By November, the airline plans to operate more A380 flights in a month than at any point since its first Airbus A380 flight in August 2013.

Many assumed that the COVID-19 pandemic would mark the death of the Airbus A380, especially after large users such as Air France and Lufthansa wrote off their remaining fleets. While the type has suffered significant losses, the pandemic didn't defeat it. In fact, like Emirates, British Airways has signaled that it is ready to continue flying the giant of the skies for years to come.

Surpassing pre-pandemic levels

According to the airline's flight schedule data provided by Cirium, British Airways is planning to surpass 2019 flight levels from August 2022.

Forward-looking schedules aren't set in stone, and they could change depending on market factors before the month in question.

What's even more interesting are the months of September to December, though. According to the current flight schedule, British Airways will operate more flights per each of these months than in the corresponding previous months since the first Airbus A380 was delivered. The pre-COVID records for September through December were all set in 2016 following the delivery of the airline's final Airbus A380 as follows,

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Record-breaking months?

The data gets even more interesting when you isolate November and December from the rest of 2022. Before the A380's grounding in early 2020, the single busiest month for British Airways' fleet of Airbus A380s was July 2016, with 532 flights. If you glance back at the data above, you can see that the British flag carrier has actually scheduled more A380 flights in November and December than in July 2016. This is especially interesting, as the summer is usually a peak for activity, while things typically die down in the winter.

This naturally makes one wonder where all of these flights are heading. We'll compare December 2022 to both July 2016 and December 2019. The data shows that part of the reason for the record number of Airbus A380 flights planned this December is due to the different routes that the giant of the skies is being used on. Before the pandemic, the December 2019 Airbus A380 didn't show any flights to Chicago, Dallas, or Dubai.

Instead, a similar number of flights to the 2022 schedule were operated by the Boeing 747. British Airways retired its entire Boeing 747 fleet around two years ago, taking a chunk of high-capacity aircraft out of the fleet. As the A380 has a large capacity, British Airways wants to use it on the route where it can fill it. If the airline was able to fill a Boeing 747 before, there's a good chance that the route could sustain sufficient demand for an Airbus A380 too.

No demand, no Airbus A380

In contrast, it is also possible to see that British Airways has trimmed down the schedule on other routes as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to alter the global travel market. Strict COVID-19 rules mean that demand for flights to Hong Kong is low. British Airways would never fill an A380 heading to the city given the current situation, so it doesn't make sense to use its largest planes to fly to the city.

The airline currently isn't flying to the city, given how unprofitable operating the route would be. It is now planning a return to Hong Kong with the winter IATA flight schedule, though this will depend on the development of the restrictions. The Boeing 777 and 787-9 are currently scheduled in place of the giant Airbus A380.

Not going anywhere soon

While the Airbus A380 will be flying to plenty of destinations over the coming years, British Airways isn't planning on letting the giant of the skies retire any time soon. The airline holds contracts with Lufthansa Technik to carry out heavy A380 maintenance in Manila, Philippines. These contracts were renewed in August 2021, before British Airways even revealed the Airbus A380 would be returning to the skies. The agreements cover all 12 Airbus A380s operated by British Airways and are currently set to run until at least August 2027.

But why is British Airways holding on to the giant of the skies while so many aircraft are saying "Au revoir" and "Auf Wiedersehen" to their fleets? The answer, in part, lies with Heathrow's position as a global aviation hub. Though strict pandemic rules meant that the airport dropped the title of "Busiest airport in Europe", it could well regain the title in the coming years.

Most predict that passenger numbers and demand will eventually reach pre-pandemic levels as the pandemic continues to get smaller in the rear-view mirror. This is where Heathrow Airport comes into the Airbus A380 equation. London's main airport is incredibly slot constrained. Before the pandemic, it was difficult for airlines to get an in at the facility, with some slots trading for millions of dollars.

This is where the A380 really found its niche. With such a high capacity, it potentially allowed two rotations operated by a smaller jet to be combined into one A380 rotation, thus freeing up additional slots to be used elsewhere. Heathrow Airport is the most diverse Airbus A380 airport for a good reason. While this impacts a single route for a carrier like Qatar Airways, as British Airways is based at London Heathrow, the A380's capacity can be a boon for multiple routes. Assuming that demand does fully recover, the A380 will be an asset for the carrier once more.

What do you make of the British A380's return to the skies? Let us know what you think and why in the comments!