There have never been so many A380s in the air! Since the airline sector emerged from its crisis, the Airbus super jumbo has never been so well and has regained favor with the airlines. Following the example of Emirates, of which one hundred of its one hundred and sixteen A380 wide-body aircraft are “back in operation this summer”, says Cédric Renard, general manager for France of the Gulf company. And Emirates is far from alone. “All the companies that have A380s put them back into service”, adds the leader. Like Singapore Airlines, launch company of the A380, whose twelve super jumbos are all in the air. Or even Lufthansa which started on Thursday 1er June, to fly its fourteen aircraft again… But this will not be the case for Air France, which got rid of its ten A380s during the crisis.
Today, the jumbo jet seems to be the plane cut out to cope with the influx of customers at airports. In the configuration chosen by Emirates, the A380 can carry 517 passengers on each flight, including fourteen in first class suites and seventy-six in business class seats. A little more than Lufthansa’s super jumbos with cabins arranged for 509 passengers. True to its tradition of luxury, Singapores Airlines limits the number of passengers on its A380s to 471.
But, whatever its colors, the plane is full as an egg, like the Singapore company which announces a “occupancy rate of 87.5% in April”. More discreet, Emirates suggests that the attendance of its aircraft is well above 80%. “Traffic is back with strong growth”, notes Mr. Renard. On many of its destinations, the Gulf company has left aside its Boeing 777s to replace them with A380s. Nice and Bali are now served by these super jumbos. Emirates prides itself on recording “the highest load factors in air transport. Over 80% »says the CEO.
Emirates would like a successor to the A380
For companies, the vogue for the A380 should not remain a passing fad. Emirates has started upgrading its cabins. The company, which lost $6 billion during the pandemic but gained nearly $3 billion in its last fiscal year, which ended in March, decided to “launch a $1.8 billion fleet modernization program”, specifies Mr. Renard. Eight devices have already benefited from it. According to the general manager, “50% of the fleet will be modernized within two years”.
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