In 2020, amidst the pandemic’s first wave, a hoard of Airbus (AIR.PA) A380s was driven to collect dust in provisional sites from rural France and all the way to the Gulf since the outbreak didn’t do any help in aiding in the cause of the world’s largest and significantly valuable, luxurious passenger flights.
As a new and rising issue surfaces about the demand for more flights (due to the scarcity of newer flight bodies), the double-platformed flights from Europe that have been polished and left alone for far too long are getting some time to shine. However, there is no written date as to when they would go back into storage.
For the colossal four-stroke engine beasts to arrive at carriers like Qantas Airways (QAN.AX) or Singapore Air Lines (SIAL.SI) and then eventually at major Asian industry players like South Korea’s Asiana Airlines (020560.KS) and Japan’s AN Holdings (9202.T). Recently, they seem to be preferred in spite of fuel rates that are becoming increasingly high, which would mean that using the 2-stroke engines that arrive with newer models are inexpensive by a large margin.
Walter Cho, the Chief Executive of Korean Air Lines (003490.KS) had revealed as a venture of the iconic airline industry gathering set in Doha, that the passengers adore the plane and it has sufficient business class atmosphere that would make it the ideal aircraft to use for navigation-distressing routes.
One was launched today, and as forecasted, around 10 A380s may be up in the air by December this year, as Korean Air intends.
Powerhouse Lufthansa (LHAG.DE)’s airliners continued to have a discourse on the heavily requested and detained time when it came to the deliveries of new Boeing (BA.N). Providing its hypothetical full return, there are also complications. Chief Executive Carsten Spohr commented on the lack of pilots they have to ride the A380. There are currently only 14 pilots who have the green light to fly them, but this issue can be fixed if they train the A350 pilots to enhance the lesser number.
The initial plan by Airbus was to create one thousand planes to be of service as the cruise liner that was popularly loved, for its excellence belonged to this century’s most comfortable airplanes. However, there was a disruption when most of the carriers chose smaller, and cheaper twin jets over the A380, and therefore only 242 were built and remain in existence. Despite the flights showing up recently, analysts also predict that the fleet can’t return to its nearly golden status before the pandemic.
Regardless, a solid amount of 106 flights are up in the air, as reported by the data firm Cirium. This is a remarkable upgrade from when only four of them were in service in 2020.
Since there is a marginal amount of demand for second choices in the A380s, most airlines face the two routes of either keeping them in service or abandoning them.
Rob Morris, a representative for Cirium Global Head of Consultancy had stated that using aircraft that are to be jotted down wouldn’t be an option too bad.
Even if there are promises of the A380s coming up in the sky again as it once was (although not in quantity), there are still exceptions where Thai Airways (THAI.BK) and Malaysia Airlines have put their flights on sale, hoping for buyers regardless of the weak demand in the industry. Air France (AIRF.PA) had chosen to completely let its permit of A380s go during the initial COVID-19 waves.
Even if its future plans are uncertain due to many airline powerhouses hesitating to let it fly again, the massive fleet most definitely cannot reclaim its crown as the luxury flagship it was built to be. It will now seek its position as a worker flight to deal with busy workforces leading it through labor.
