5 A380s To Leave Frankfurt As Lufthansa Outlines Storage Plans
Earlier today, one of Lufthansa’s Airbus A380s departed Frankfurt Airport for long term storage. Following the departure, Lufthansa has outlined their Airbus A380 storage plan. The program will see five of the seven A380s that had been at Frankfurt Airport sent to storage over several months.
Lufthansa is sending five more of its Airbus A380s to long-term storage. Photo: Getty Images
The A380 is sadly an aircraft behind its time. Already before the pandemic, some airlines were phasing out the aircraft, such as Air France and Singapore Airlines. Its problem is that it is hard to fill, and its four engines are hungry for fuel. However, the pandemic has amplified these issues.
The spokesperson pointed out that the move was to do with the cost of storing the aircraft for such a long period of time. While Lufthansa’s own A380 mechanics can take care of the aircraft in Frankfurt, the space that they’re occupying comes at a cost. This is significantly more than in Teruel and Tarbes that are designed explicitly with aircraft storage in mind, unlike a major international airport.
Earlier today, Lufthansa flew this Airbus A380 to Tarbes in the south of France. Photo: Vincenzo Pace – JFKJets.com
One departure a month
According to Lufthansa, the process of ferrying their Airbus A380s to Teruel and Tarbes will be a long one. The airline told Simple Flying that “The five A380s will be relocated between January and May 2021, starting today to Tarbes with the registration D-AIMC.”
They then went on to add that “The other four aircraft are scheduled to be transferred one by one, each month one aircraft.” Lufthansa didn’t specify which aircraft would depart in which order and where they would go, but six currently remain at Frankfurt,
Airbus has been forced to send around 500 of its workers home after more than 20 employees tested positive for COVID-19 at its Hamburg-Finkenwerder plant. The plant employs around 12,000 workers, and is a key production site for the A320 family of aircraft.
Airbus’ Hamburg site has had an outbreak of COVID. Photo: Airbus
21 employees test positive
European planemaker Airbus has had to place around 500 of its staff in quarantine following an outbreak of COVID at its factory in Hamburg. According to Reuters, 21 staff tested positive for the virus over the weekend, forcing Airbus to ask people to stay at home as a precautionary measure.
Airbus is investigating the source of this outbreak, and will consider whether additional health and safety measures are required at the plant. A spokesperson told Business Live that,
“The Health & Safety of our people, while maintaining business continuity, is our first and overriding priority. The appropriate measures, such as immediate series testing and quarantine, were initiated immediately as per established protocol in cooperation with the authorities.
“These are mandatory quarantine measures on the part of the authorities as well as on top precautionary, voluntary domestic isolation for those employees which entered the affected production area. Effects on production at the site are being examined.
“The cause of the cases is still under investigation. We are fully supporting the authorities. At this stage, we should not speculate on the findings.”
It’s not clear yet whether the Airbus employees contracted one of the new, more transmissible variants of COVID-19. Airbus shut down its factories early into the COVID crisis in order to implement health and safety measures. Since then, it has facilitated the separation of teams, mandated mask-wearing, and has ensured social distancing wherever possible.
Lufthansa Celebrates 5 Years Of Airbus A320neo Operations
Lufthansa today celebrates five years of Airbus A320neo operation. As the type’s launch customer, the German flag carrier was the first airline to begin flying the type. Since the type’s launch, Airbus has delivered 1,147 A320neo aircraft as of the end of 2020.
Lufthansa today celebrates five years of A320neo operations. Photo: Oliver Rösler via Lufthansa
The Airbus A320neo is the second iteration of the manufacturer’s main single-aisle product. The aircraft has been a success by all accounts, with almost as many neo family aircraft having been sold as the classic engine option. While Lufthansa has retired its first ceo aircraft, the new neos still have many years ahead of them!
Fifth anniversary
It was exactly five years ago today that Lufthansa operated its first passenger flight with the then-new A320neo. According to Andreas Spaeth, writing for Airways Magazine, the first flight was relatively low-key. It saw the aircraft, D-AINA, operating LH100 from the airline’s Frankfurt home to its secondary hub, Munich.
Despite entering service with Lufthansa in January 2016, the aircraft’s ceremonial handover from Airbus to Lufthansa actually took place on February 12th. Interestingly, the handover itself occurred just days after the 40th anniversary of Airbus’ first delivery to Lufthansa. This saw an Airbus A300 being delivered to the airline from its Hamburg-Finkenwerder site on February 9th, 1976.
Many orders outstanding
Despite operating the A320neo for five years now, The Lufthansa Group has only taken delivery of a fraction of its neo aircraft orders. As of December 31st, The Lufthansa Group had 84 A320neo orders. With 29 delivered so far, the airline group has an outstanding order for 55 more aircraft.
However, the airline is also expecting 40 A321neos, of which six have so far been delivered. This leave’s the airline group’s outstanding A320neo family commitment at 89 aircraft of a total order of 124. It’s unclear exactly what time frame the orders will be delivered in, as the German flag carrier has slowed its delivery rate due to the current situation. After all, with so many aircraft grounded, what is the point in taking more?
Better for the environment
The neo family is better for the environment than the older classic engine option family. This is increasingly important in a day and age where sustainability guides everything the industry does.
When the first aircraft was delivered, Airbus commented that its planned 15% lower fuel consumption had been exceeded by the neo. As mentioned on the side of some of the airline’s early neos, the aircraft use less fuel and emit less CO2. However, there is one more benefit, which will be appreciated by airport neighbors.
airBaltic (BT, Riga) plans to build a new hangar at Riga to maintain its fleet of twenty-five A220-300s, the airline announced.
Construction of the hangar is to start in 2022 and finish by the end of 2023, following a building rights agreement with Riga Airport signed in 2020.
According to initial plans, the portion of land earmarked for construction is 2.85 hectares. The hangar will span over 34,500 square metres. It will be able to provide simultaneous line- and base maintenance for seven A220-300s, and its services will be offered to other A220-300 operators. The project will be financed through commercial banks, according to a statement by the airline.
Owned 96.14% by the Latvian state with 3.86% by Lars Thuesen through his who4lly-owned Aircraft Leasing 1 SIA, airBaltic was the launch customer of the A220-300. It owns eight of the aircraft, while seventeen are on lease, from amongst others, Avation,FPG Amentum, Chorus Aviation Capital, and CMB Financial Leasing.
In 2019, it was certified to provide full-scale EASA Part-145 line maintenance and base maintenance for A220-300s, making it the first airline with the base maintenance capability and the second maintenance organisation in the world entitled to provide a full scope of base maintenance on A220 fleet.
“The new hangar has been in our plans for years, as part of our future expansion," explained Chief Executive Officer Martin Gauss. "By the time the new hangar will be complete, we will be on our growth path again, ensuring the crucial connectivity between the Baltics and the rest of the world with almost twice as many A220-300s as we have today. Since 2019, we have been performing all of the maintenance on the aircraft ourselves, and our development with a bigger fleet will require an aircraft hangar of a suitable size. As the A220 customer base is growing, we will also be offering heavy maintenance to customers worldwide. It will be one of the largest and most modern aircraft hangars in the region.”
Riga Airport Chairperson Laila Odiņa said construction of the new hangar would consolidate the airport's positions as airBaltic’s main base. It would also increase the range of aviation and non-aviation-related services provided by the airport, and strengthen its role in the Baltic Sea region.
Spanish low-cost carrier Volotea, which recently phased out its Boeing 717s (see news 11 January 2021), will add five Airbus A320 aircraft to its fleet in the near future.
Following the retirement of the B717 it looks like Volotea has become an all A319 operator, from which it has twenty aircraft in its fleet with three more to join in the coming months.
However, early January 2021 four ex Aeroflot A320s that were stored at Ostrava and Mineralnye Vody were registered in Spain. In mid-January one of these aircraft was painted in Volotea colours, revealing the identity of the new Spanish operator.
Besides these four ex Russian Airbus' Volotea will also add a fifth A320, which is coming from Alaska Airlines.
The Airbus A320s involved are:
EC-NNL (msn 3545), ex Aeroflot VP-BKC EC-NNM (msn 3574), ex Aeroflot VP-BZO EC-NNN (msn 3835), ex Aeroflot VQ-BBC EC-NNY (msn 3786), ex Aeroflot VQ-BAY EC-NNZ (msn 2616), ex Alaska Airlines N621VA
It is not the first time an Airbus A320 will be operated for Volotea, because in the summer of 2018 the airline hired an Airbus A320 (msn 1296, EC-MQH) from Gowair Vacation Airlines. This aircraft only had additional Volotea titles and not the full colour scheme.
GlobalX Takes Delivery Of Its First Aircraft, An Airbus A320
Start-up airline Global Crossing, or GlobalX, has taken delivery of its first aircraft. The A320 arrived at its new base, Miami International Airport (MIA), in the afternoon on Sunday, January 17th. The arrival brings the carrier one step closer to gaining FAA certification.
GlobalX’s first A320 was given a proper welcome in Miami on Sunday. Photo: GlobalX
A step on the path to certification
While much is doom and gloom in the world of aviation right now, there are also intermittent causes for celebration. Upon landing, the first GlobaX liveried A320-200 was greeted with a ceremonial water cannon salute. The event was commemorated with speeches by the airline’s and Airbus America’s CEOs.
“We are thrilled to take delivery of our first A320 aircraft here at our base at MIA.We are building our airline around Airbus with the A320 and 321 in passenger configuration, and later this year with the first of many A321 cargo aircraft,” said Ed Wegel, Chairman and CEO of Global Crossing, in a statement shared with Simple Flying.
“We hope to operate the Airbus A330 aircraft as well.Today is a testament to the outstanding work of the GlobalX team as we continue to certify as a US flag carrier,” Mr Wegel continued, refering on future widebody plans for his airline.
GlobalX’s first A320 of 2005 vintage is leased from Dubai Aerospace Enterprise Capital. It arrived fresh from the paintshop, wearing its new carrier’s blue and green livery. It seats 180 passengers in an all-economy configuration. The airline says it will deploy it on charter services across the US, the Carribbean and South America.
First A321 to join shortly
The carrier is now awaiting FAA certification to commence operations, which it expects will receive towards the end of March. It is also expecting one more Airbus narrowbody, an A321, scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of 2021. Also built in 2005, it is leased from Estonian-based Magnetic Leasing and previously belonged to Vietnam Airlines.
“We extend our sincere thanks and appreciation to the leadership and team at GlobalX for their trust in Airbus and our A320 aircraft family. It’s an honor to welcome a new A320 and A321 operator in North America and support them throughout their expansion,” Airbus Americas Chairman and CEO Jeff Knittel said in a statement.
Operating out of Florida and New Jersey
The charter-start-up hoping to make a mark in the coming year will operate from two bases – MIA and Atlantic City International Airport (ACY) in New Jersey. GlobalX hopes to grow its fleet from two to ten or 15 of A320 family aricraft. As its CEO stated, the new entrant airline has hopes to add an A330 to its certificate, although this would be at least a couple of years into the future.
