On May 20th, 2020, Air France revealed that the Airbus A380 would not be returning to service alongside the pandemic recovery. The remaining aircraft remain stored across two locations operated by Tarmac Aerosave.
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The rise of low-cost carriers and fuel-efficient twin-engine planes led to a decline in demand for the A380, causing Airbus to end production in 2021.
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.
After being grounded for over three years, Lufthansa brought back some of its Airbus A380s as of the summer of 2023. The airline is planning on progressively bringing back more of these planes, and will eventually have all eight remaining A380s back in service.
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.”
Currently, the world's biggest international airline has on order 50 A350-900s, 30 787-9s and 115 Boeing 777Xs. The airline operates 119 A380s, 123 Boeing 777-300ERs and 10 Boeing 777-200LRs. The 777X aircraft will replace the A380s, while the A350s and 787s will eventually replace the 777s.
After being grounded for over three years, Lufthansa brought back some of its Airbus A380s as of the summer of 2023. The airline is planning on progressively bringing back more of these planes, and will eventually have all eight remaining A380s back in service.
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.
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.
So why has Airbus decided to kill it? The main reason the company will halt production of A380 after 12 years, from 2021, is the low number of planes sold. “In the end, you have to face facts, and we could see that we were building A380s faster than people were ordering them,” Lange says.
Regarding airports, it's hardly surprising that the world's largest operator, Emirates, with 119 A380s in its fleet, made Dubai International Airport (DXB) the busiest airport for A380 flights.
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.
The bottom line. Overall, the A380 seems to come out far ahead in first class as there may also be wider availability of tickets. It also comes ahead in business class unless passengers are traveling in pairs and do not need access to the bar.
The world's most expensive private jet belongs to Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia who owns an Airbus A380 with a price tag of over 500 million USD.