Relaunch for the Airbus A380 | Market area


The return of the four-engine juggernaut to companies such as Singapore Airlines and Qantas Airways, and soon to the Japanese company ANA Holdings and the South Korean company Asiana Airlines, comes despite the high price of fuel which makes the operation of twin-engine jumbo jets new generation much less expensive.

The return of the colossus to compensate for delivery delays

“Passengers love this aircraft and we have plenty of business class seats, so it’s a very good aircraft for high-demand routes,” Korean Air Lines chief executive Walter Cho said on the sidelines of a meeting. of the aviation sector in Doha. Korean Air plans to return three of its ten A380s to service by the end of the year, up from one today.

High demand and delivery delays for the new Boeing 777X airliners also forced Lufthansa to revise its copy. Lufthansa will decide soon whether to bring the A380 back, but it currently only has 14 pilots licensed to fly it and will be training A350 pilots to overtake them, chief executive Carsten Spohr said.

The A380 has been touted by Airbus as the cruiser of the 21st century, with prospects of 1,000 aircraft in service. But only 242 were built, with many carriers opting for smaller jets. Analysts say the fleet will never return to pre-pandemic levels. Yet 106 devices are back in service, according to data firm Cirium, down from just four when the crisis hit in April 2020.

Second-hand demand for A380s is low, so airlines are often faced with the choice of whether to fly them or scrap them. “Keeping aircraft that have been deprecated … may be the least-worst option,” said Rob Morris, global head of consulting for Ascend by Cirium.

Still, Air France has permanently retired its A380s during the pandemic, Thai Airways and Malaysia Airlines have put them up for sale despite weak buyer demand and even current operators have sent some for scrap.

“You will regret it”

The recession has prompted many airlines to write down the value of their larger jets. After making this decision, they can fly the plane without having to pay expensive depreciation charges, although the price of fuel consumed by the four engines of the plane remains a huge headache.

Qantas took a charge of A$1.43 billion ($995 million) in 2020, mostly on the A380 then grounded, but it is now putting 10 out of 12 back into operation.

The A380 also got a reprieve in part because airlines don’t yet have enough demand to resume multiple flights on routes like Dubai-London, Singapore-Mumbai and Sydney-Los Angeles.

Tim Clark, president of Emirates, is one of the airline bosses who was not surprised by this partial return. This company is by far the largest customer having ordered a total of 123 jets for its Dubai hub. Clark fought unsuccessfully to persuade Airbus to reinvest in the A380 before the planner decided in 2019 to end production.

“Everyone struggled with the ability. I watched everything; people saying the trend is over,” he told reporters. “If you want to do this, you’ll regret it,” he recalls saying himself of the industry-wide shift to smaller jets. “And now what’s happening is you have to reactivate the A380s.”

Emirates Airbus A380, Airbus’ largest customer for this jumbo jet

Emirates’ superjumbo fleet has not been spared by the crisis, however, with dozens of aircraft parked and currently out of service.

Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar Al Baker said the A380, which the company pulled from service following a dispute with Airbus over new A350s, is still unprofitable. Whatever its long-term future, the superjumbo is unlikely to live up to its initial vision as a luxury flagship, and instead carve out a more modest role as a workhorse to cover peak periods.

“If you want to increase capacity, you have to bring the big bird back,” said Subhas Menon, chief executive of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines. “They (the companies) will need it, otherwise they won’t be able to meet consumer expectations.”



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