Loading Page...

Is Qatar Airways retiring the A380?

Qatar Airways also has an order for forty B777-9s, which it anticipates beginning delivery of from 2025. When the A380-800s do exit the Qatar Airways fleet, the B777-9s, with a planned two-cabin capacity of approximately 415 passengers, will be the largest passenger aircraft in the carrier's fleet.



People Also Ask

The A380 in Asia Along with China Southern, Malaysia Airlines and Thai Airways have retired their A380s, but the double-decker still has a presence in the region. All Nippon Airways (ANA), Asiana Airlines, Korean Air and Singapore Airlines continue to operate their A380s, with 33 Asian-operated A380s in service today.

MORE DETAILS

In February 2019, Airbus announced it would end A380 production by 2021, after its main customer, Emirates, agreed to drop an order for 39 of the aircraft, replacing it with 40 A330-900s and 30 A350-900s.

MORE DETAILS

Qatar Airways is keen to retire its Airbus A380 aircraft as soon as feasible. While the airline cannot ground its fleet due to capacity needs, Group CEO Akbar Al Baker made it clear to Simple Flying that there is no long-term future for the giant of the skies in his fleet.

MORE DETAILS

The arrival of the A380 in 2007 was poorly timed. The price of jet fuel had begun to creep up, and by 2007 was floating at around $4 a gallon. This made airlines shy away from the expensive to operate four engine jets of the 80s and 90s, and to look instead to fuel efficiency as a major deciding factor.

MORE DETAILS

Since its introduction, the A380 has established a strong safety record and is regarded as one of the safest aircraft in the world. The aircraft has been involved in only two significant incidents since its introduction – a 2011 crash in France and a 2016 tyre burst incident in Australia.

MORE DETAILS

Sir Tim Clark, President Emirates Airline said: “The A380 is a truly special aircraft in so many ways. For Emirates, it gave us the opportunity to redefine the travel experience, efficiently serve demand at slot-constrained airports, and bolster our network growth.

MORE DETAILS

The four-engine A380 is only profitable with a high load factor, and only the world's largest airports have facilities to handle the aircraft. Such reasons led Lufthansa CEO to declare the craft “permanently decommissioned.”

MORE DETAILS

Range and flexibility. Surprisingly, for all its size, the A380 can't go as far as the A350. The A350-1000 can travel more than 1,000 km (540 NM) further than the A380. Singapore Airlines has a special 'ultra-long-range' (ULR) A350-900, which operates on the longest route in the world, from Singapore to New York JFK.

MORE DETAILS

On 16 December 2021, Emirates received its 123rd A380, which was the 251st and last delivered by Airbus. The A380's estimated $25 billion development cost was not recouped by the time Airbus ended production.

MORE DETAILS

1 Emirates The airline took 123 Airbus A380s from Airbus, though seven are already listed as historic by ch-aviation, with 76 listed as active. The airline has over 60,000 seats installed across its Airbus A380 fleet, and in the single year of 2018, it scheduled over 61,000 flights.

MORE DETAILS

Lufthansa is reactivating the Airbus A380 in response to the steep rise in customer demand and the delayed delivery of ordered aircraft. The airline expects to use the long-haul aircraft, which is popular with customers and crews, again from summer 2023.

MORE DETAILS

A total of 251 Airbus A380s were built and delivered for civil aviation. How many A380s are still flying? As of May 2023, about 130 A380s are in service - but several airlines plan to reactivate more aircraft during the year.

MORE DETAILS

1 Emirates The airline took 123 Airbus A380s from Airbus, though seven are already listed as historic by ch-aviation, with 76 listed as active. The airline has over 60,000 seats installed across its Airbus A380 fleet, and in the single year of 2018, it scheduled over 61,000 flights.

MORE DETAILS

For now, the upper limit for current and proposed aircraft seems to be around the 400-seat mark. Many current A380s are likely to be phased out over the next decade, if not sooner. As such, it seems very unlikely that we will see another aircraft of its size any time soon.

MORE DETAILS

The amortization of the original investment was not considered in this equation. Based on this information, we can assume that the Airbus A380 program never turned a profit when we consider the huge investment the aircraft manufacturer made to start the program.

MORE DETAILS

The initial purchase price of an Airbus A380 can range from $300 million to $400 million depending on the model and specifications. This is the cost to purchase the aircraft in its current condition and does not include the cost of customization.

MORE DETAILS

Airbus A380 is not only the largest but also one of the most reliable in terms of safety. It is an aviation safety-focused aircraft that has never experienced a fatal crash.

MORE DETAILS