British Airways’ Last Airbus A380 Leaves Chateauroux
Over the summer, British Airways stored its entire fleet of Airbus A380 aircraft in Chateauroux, France. However, G-XLEH left the facility today, meaning that no A380s now remain at the French Airport.
British Airways’ last Airbus A380 has now left Chateauroux. Photo: Tom Boon – Simple Flying
Parking a large number of aircraft is difficult for any airline. Indeed, when faced with strike action in 2019, British Airways had to park A380s as far away as California as there isn’t enough room for BA’s entire fleet at its hubs. However, when every airline began wishing to park its fleet at once, the industry was suddenly running out of room on the ground, prompting some airports to park aircraft on runways and taxiways.
Final Chateauroux departure
G-XLEH became the final Airbus A380 to depart Chateauroux this afternoon. The aircraft took off from the airport at 14:33. With a flight time of one hour and 13 minutes, the aircraft touched down at its London Heathrow home at 14:46.
G-XLEH has flown much more than most of the airline’s A380 fleet since the airline paused operations of the giant of the skies. In May, the aircraft flew out to Manila for heavy maintenance. It remained on the other side of the world until August when it flew to Chateauroux via London Heathrow.
G-XLEG has flown further, having completed two rotations to Johannesburg in June as part of the airline’s repatriation program in tandem with the UK government.
So where is the British Airways fleet now?
According to flight records from FlightRadar24.com, the British Airways fleet is now scattered across Europe at the following airports
The three oldest aircraft that have been sent to Teruel will likely be the last to return to the blue skies. In IAG’s Q2 results, it was revealed that four of British Airways’ Airbus A380s would be sent to long-term storage. This means that the aircraft will likely be joined by a fourth aircraft. It also means that the airline may have aspirations to fly the other A380s sooner rather than later. Otherwise, it would make sense to store these too.
Madrid makes an obvious destination to store aircraft that British Airways wants to keep operationally ready. While in Chateauroux, the aircraft had to fly back to London for maintenance (while not destroying the taxiway). Madrid is home to British Airways’ sister airline, Iberia. If the Iberia mechanics can’t maintain the aircraft, it is easy for British Airways engineers to travel to Madrid with five daily flights between the two airports.
So far, British Airways has not indicated that it intends to retire any Airbus A380 aircraft, unlike several other airlines. However, there is still no set date for the aircraft to resume passenger services.
1st British Airways A380s Arrive At Spanish Aircraft Graveyard
The stored Airbus A380 fleet at Teruel in Spain has just become more diverse as it welcomes the British Airways A380. While the BA A380 fleet has called Chateauroux home for the past half a year, things are changing as the fleet relocates to Spain.
2020 will go down as a terrible year for the Airbus A380 as a type. Currently, just a handful of the aircraft are flying for carriers such as Emirates and China Southern. Simultaneously, the majority of the global fleet remains grounded due to the massive decrease in passenger numbers globally.
G-XLEA & G-XLEB relocate
In its second-half results, IAG confirmed that it would be ‘temporarily grounding four A380s‘ as part of its fleet resizing strategy. However, the entire fleet remained in Chateauroux, occasionally visiting Heathrow for maintenance. Last week, Simple Flying reported that the airline was to move some of its A380 fleet to Madrid Barajas Airport, home of its sister airline Iberia.
Today two more aircraft flew down to Spain. However, rather than heading to Madrid, they flew slightly further east to Teruel, a Spanish aircraft graveyard. G-XLEA, BA’s first Airbus A380, went first. The plane departed from London Heathrow at 08:58. Having flown for one hour and 40 minutes, it landed in Teruel at 11:38.
What else is at Teruel?
Many people wouldn’t have been able to point out Teruel on a map before the COVID-19 pandemic. However, since passenger demand tanked, and airlines needed cheap storage for large planes, it has come into its element.
The British Airways A380s will undoubtedly have some aircraft to relate to during their extended stay on the ground. For starters, towards the start of the crisis, British Airways ferried five Boeing 747s to the facility. At the time, this was for storage. However, it has since been confirmed the 747s won’t return to the fleet.
Teruel is home to tens of grounded aircraft as the crisis drags on. Photo: Getty Images
However, the facility is also now home to several other Airbus A380s. Firstly, two Airbus A380s from Air France now call the facility home. Given that the airline has retired the type completely, these likely won’t fly again. However, Lufthansa has also dispatched seven of its Airbus A380s to the site. At least six of these won’t return to service, although the seventh likely won’t either.
G-XLEA has an age of eight years, while G-XLEB is just 7.8 years old. Given their young age, one would hope that British Airways doesn’t end up scrapping them. However, as the oldest aircraft in the fleet, these two would make sense if any have to go.
