The turnaround of the Airbus A380 superjumbo

“Never say never” would be an apt way to describe such an extraordinary comeback.

The Airbus A380, the largest commercial aircraft in the world, which depending on the configuration has up to 615 seats on board, was even dismissed as a viable aircraft by many observers and ended up being retired by several airlines at the height of the pandemic.

However, now, the superjumbo is returning to the air at a much faster pace than expected as airlines look for ways to deal with the sudden increase in passenger demand and American Boeing, Europe’s main rival Airbus, suffers from delays in its production line.

In the last week of June, a total of 129 A380s were again in the skies around the world, operated by seven airlines, according to tracking portal Flightradar24. That’s more than half of the 251 aircraft of the model that have been produced by Airbus since 2003. And more A380s are being put back into service every week.

out of the fridge

In a spectacular twist last week, German airline Lufthansa confirmed that it will also be bringing back some of its A380s for the 2023 summer season, in a clear sign of a resurgence of the model – something unthinkable just a few months ago.

Passengers love the A380. But almost every company that owns the model faced difficulties in operating it economically, especially because of its four turbines, which consume astronomical levels of fuel. In addition, many companies faced difficulties in selling the huge amount of seats. Originally, Airbus had hoped to build at least 1,000 A380s, but only a quarter of that goal was eventually achieved, giving the plane a reputation as a commercial failure.

Dubai-based airline Emirates remains by far the biggest enthusiast and biggest customer of the A380. Emirates has 123 A380s, almost half of the total amount already produced.

Production of the A380 officially ended last year, with Emirates taking delivery of the latest model built at the Airbus factory in Hamburg in December 2021. The era of the four-engine wide-body jet appeared to be over, something that was reinforced after the American Boeing indicate that it would end production after more than 50 years.

Air France disabled its ten Airbus A380s permanently even before the pandemic. When the pandemic virtually brought world aviation to a standstill in 2020, the end seemed inevitable for most of the remaining A380s — with the exception of the Emirates fleet, as the airline had announced that it intended to fly its aircraft until at least the mid-2030s. .

Lufthansa embraces the A380 again

Lufthansa, which had a total of 14 A380s in its fleet, was among the airlines that even retired the superjumbo. In August 2021, Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr said: “the A380 is obviously not coming back”.

In April 2022, he reiterated the line in an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel: “This is over, once and for all. The A380 is very uneconomical compared to the new long-haul twin-engine jets. It will not return to Lufthansa.” .

Lufthansa A380s are currently parked in yards in Spain and France. Six of those aircraft have already been sold, but eight A380s remain part of Lufthansa’s fleet — at least for now.

Anyone who wants to see Lufthansa superjumbos today should head to Lourdes, France, a major Catholic pilgrimage site. At Tarbes-Lourdes airport there are several dozen jets, parked in front of the snow-covered Pyrenees. Many of them arrived here brand new from the Airbus factory in neighboring Toulouse, never carrying a passenger.

Behind the barbed wire fence you can see these sleeping giants. Windows and engines are covered with tarps, the landing gear remains carefully wrapped, and all openings in the fuselage are sealed. This is called “deep storage” in aviation parlance.

“It would take nine months to get our A380s up and running again,” Lufthansa’s Spohr told DW.

However, four to five of Lufthansa’s remaining eight A380s must be put back into service for scheduled flights.

“I had to soften my view a little bit on the end of the A380,” Spohr admitted in late June.

Problems at Boeing Fueled a Revival

Rising passenger demand, already above pre-pandemic levels in some areas, is the big reason behind the A380’s turnaround. But it also has to do with problems at the American manufacturer Boeing.

Lufthansa was one of the first customers for the largest long-haul aircraft currently in production, the Boeing 777-9, which the German airline intends to operate in a 400-seat configuration. However, the delivery of the aircraft was delayed by about five years, to 2025.

“Boeing 777-9 delivery delays are a huge burden on our flight operations,” Spohr said. So, as a temporary measure, Lufthansa decided to reintroduce the A380.

Lufthansa is due to resume operating its A380s from Munich in spring 2023, Spohr said, adding that the number could increase if demand remains strong.

Missing A380 pilots

The main reason for basing the superjumbos in Bavaria and not the Lufthansa hub in Frankfurt is due to the lack of qualified pilots.

“We only kept 14 ready-to-fly A380 pilots who could be deployed immediately. So if we put the A380 back into service, we will need to re-qualify a few more A350 pilots,” Spohr explained.

Lufthansa’s A350 fleet is also based in Munich and the crew must now undergo an extra six-week course that will also allow them to fly the A380.