(CNN) – The post-pandemic recovery of commercial aviation could have an early, unlikely protagonist: the A380 superjumbo.
Emirates has the largest fleet of A380s in the world.
PASCAL PAVANI / AFP via Getty Images
“It’s definitely going to have a comeback,” said Geoff Van Klaveren, an aviation analyst and advisory executive at IBA. “Operators have been quite reluctant to bring it back because it’s a very expensive aircraft, but I think we’ve seen a need for a quicker recovery than people expected.”
More will be back
Among them, nine are currently flying it: British Airways, All Nippon Airways, Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Qantas, Qatar, Asiana, Korean Air and China Southern Airlines. Some of these already have plans to bring many of their A380s back into service.
For example, Singapore Airlines currently flies 10 A380s out of 12, but confirmed to CNN Travel that the other two are currently being retrofitted and will soon rejoin the fleet. Korean Air also said it will bring home the third A380 from its 10 fleet, to join both already in service.
Qantas, which operates three of its 12 A380s on the Sydney-Singapore-London route, confirmed to CNN Travel that it aims to bring a total of six back into service before the end of the year, with restoration plans planned. 4 more pcs. in 2024 (the other two will be phased out).
Emirates, the largest A380 operator with 123 aircraft, is also thriving. “Today we are active […] more than half of our A380s,” said Richard Jewishbury, vice president of UK division at Emirates. By the end of the year, we are aiming to operate almost 90 A380s across our entire network. “That means over a dozen more A380s will join the ones currently flying.
It has proven so popular that the airline plans to retrofit 67 of its A380s within 18 months and starting later this year. In that configuration, with four classes of seats including first class, business class, premium economy and economy class, the plane can accommodate 484 passengers. In their densest configuration, two business-only and economy-class seats, Emirates’ A380s can accommodate 615 passengers.
Sell high
Lufthansa has announced that it will bring back its A380s in 2023.
Thomas Lohnes / Getty Images
There are a number of reasons why airlines are reverting to superjumbo. “Lack of widebody capacity, as some airlines like British Airways have retired older planes like the Boeing 747. There are also some production issues with the new A350,” says Van. airlines need capacity”. Klaveren.
That’s not all. For some airlines, it makes sense to put the plane back into service because the value of the plane has dropped so much that it can no longer be sold.
“Some operators have realized that this is a very difficult aircraft to sell, for a variety of reasons. If you don’t have any A380s then you certainly wouldn’t put it on your fleet, because it’s very risky and expensive,” Van told Klaveren.
“The value of a 10-year-old A380 has dropped by 60% from pre-pandemic levels, to $30 million from about $76 million, which is quite an extraordinary number. So a lot. [airlines] think they can operate them too, because it costs them to keep them flying. “
In fact, two airlines Thailand and Malaysia have offered to sell all of the A380 aircraft but have not yet found a buyer. The only other place so far is Etihad; The Abu Dhabi-based airline has 10 in its fleet, but does not operate any and currently has no firm plans to do so.
Shorter lifespan
Emirates recently launched a new A380 cabin that includes premium economy class.
Emirates Team
Compared to the bleak predictions of two years ago, now may be the time to envision a brighter future for superjumbo.
“I think most airlines will continue to operate these planes for the rest of their lives,” said Van Klaveren. “The question mark is whether that life expectancy is 18 years, not 25 years, which is the lifespan of most aircraft. If you compare it to new generation aircraft, it really isn’t fuel efficient. in particular, so that suggests that its average age is going to go down.”
Because Emirates has so many A380s, the fate of this plane will be in the hands of the airline. “I think they’re going to get them all flying again, because they’re pretty important to their business model,” Van Klaveren said.
The Dubai-based airline continues to show enthusiastic support for the aircraft.
For now, the A380 continues to be well received by customers globally and will remain the airline’s flagship aircraft for many years to come, said Emirates’ Richard Dobury.
“For us, the iconic double-decker vehicle redefines the travel experience and it will continue to be a key pillar of our network plans.”
