Airbus Updates No.3759

 

Airbus A321	-211	6767		N744AV	Avianca Colombia	ferried 03feb22 CLO-BOG prior return to lessor	ex D-AYAV
Airbus A330	-343	629		D-AIKD	Lufthansa	ferried 07fb22 FRA-CHR for paint prior transfer to Eurowings Discover	ex F-WWYF
Airbus A330	-202	883		7O-AFE	Yemenia	delivery 04feb22 CAI-ADE	ex 3B-NBM
Airbus A330	-243	1561		2-HXFJ	Commonwealth Bank of Australia	ferried 02feb22 LDE-BHX	ex VH-XFJ
Airbus A330	-343	1754		9H-AHQ	Olympus Aviation Ltd	air-test at LDE 05feb22 prior delivery to?	ex ZS-SXJ
Airbus A330	-202	1864		EC-NRG	Iberia	ferried 07feb22 MAD-FNI, Level cs	ex F-HLVL
Airbus A330	-343	1907		D-AXEO	K5 Aviation	delivery 07feb21 TLS-SNN-LBG	ex F-WWYH
Airbus A340	-313	202		9H-TQZ	HiFly Malta	ferried 02-03feb22 BNE-HAN-LPBJ after RAAF wet-lease ops	ex CS-TQZ
Airbus A340	-642	736		G-ECLD	European Cargo	regd 04feb22, air-test at BOH 05feb22	ex 9H-NHS
Airbus A350	-941	544		F-HTYN	Air France	delivery 03feb22 TLS-CDG	ex F-WZNB
Airbus A380	-841	124		G-XLEC	Briish Airways	ferried 04feb22 LHR-MNL for mx prior rtn to svc	ex F-WWSC
Airbus A380	-841	192		G-XLEJ	British Airways	ferried 01feb22 DOH-MNL after storage	ex F-WWAE
Airbus Canada A220	-300	55145		YI-ARF	Iraqi Airways	delivery 03-05feb22 YMX-MAN-BGW	ex C-FPAG

Airbus Updates No.2956

 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

Aircraft	Location	Last Flight
G-XLEA	Teruel (TEV)	November 20th
G-XLEB	Teruel (TEV)	November 20th
G-XLEC	Teruel (TEV)	December 3rd
G-XLED	London Heathrow (LHR)	November 27th
G-XLEE	London Heathrow (LHR)	December 4th
G-XLEF	Madrid (MAD)	November 11th
G-XLEG	Madrid (MAD)	November 12th
G-XLEH	London Heathrow (LHR)	December 10th
G-XLEI	Madrid (MAD)	November 13th
G-XLEJ	London Heathrow (LHR)	November 6th
G-XLEK	Madrid (MAD)	December 1st
G-XLEL	Madrid (MAD)	November 21st

Showing 1 to 12 of 12 entries

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.

Airbus Updates No.2594

Over the next 48 hours British Airways will be flying up to 11 of their 12 Airbus A380 aircraft to Chateauroux, France

First Confirmed ones are as follows

Monday 6th April 2020

BAW9150 G-XLEA
BAW9151 G-XLEC
BAW9152 G-XLEF
BAW9153 G-XLEI

Tuesday 7th April 2020

BAW9154 G-XLEJ
BAW9155 G-XLEL

Airbus Updates No.1127

Airbus A319  -131  2621     YU-APC  Air Serbia  delivery 19oct13 DUS-BEG  ex EI-EYA
 Airbus A319  -132  3252     YU-APE  Air Serbia  delivery 12oct13 TLC-BGR-KEF-MUC, full cs, XA-reg   ex XA-VOS
 Airbus A319  -111  3834     EI-EWF  ILFC  ferried 11oct13 BRU-SNN, flyGeorgia cs  ex 4L-FGA
 Airbus A319  -115ACJ  5768     HL8080  private  delivery 18oct13 XFW-ZRH-TLS, regd F-WTBJ prior ACJ configuration  ex D-AVXE
 Airbus A320  -232  2128     XY-AGT  Golden Myanmar Airlines   delivery 14oct13 SEN-DWC  ex P4-PAS
Airbus A320  -232  5791     A6-EIT  Etihad Airways  delivery 17oct13 TLS-AUH  ex F-WWIH
 Airbus A320  -232  5794     9V-SLS  Silk Air  delivery 12oct13 XFW-DWC-SIN  ex D-AXAG
 Airbus A320  -232  5796     JA18JJ  Jetstar Japan  delivery 12oct13 TLS-AUH  ex F-WWIO
 Airbus A320  -214  5801     CC-BFR  LAN Airlines  delivery 18-19oct13 XFW-LPA-REC-SCL   ex D-AXAI
 Airbus A320  -214  5802     F-HEPG  Air France  delivery 18oct13 TLS-CDG  ex F-WWIX
 Airbus A320  -232  5807     VT-IFU  IndiGo Airlines  delivery 18oct13 XFW-DEL  ex D-AXAK
 Airbus A320  -214  5818     CC-BFS  LAN Airlines  delivery 18-19oct13 XFW-LPA-REC-SCL   ex D-AXAM
 Airbus A321  -231  5770     B-9971  China Eastern  delivery 16oct13 XFW-OVB  ex D-AZAU
 Airbus A321  -231  5803     OH-LZH  Finnair  delivery 17oct13 XFW-HEL  ex D-AVZF
 Airbus A330  -243  1459     B-5932  Air China  delivery 18oct13 TLS-PEK  ex F-WWCC
Airbus A340  -313  193     LV-FPV  Aerolineas Argentinas   delivery 12oct13 BRU-EZE, SkyTeam cs  x EC-GPB
 Airbus A340  -642  376     G-VATL  Virgin Atlantic  ferried 16oct13 MAN-LGW after paint into all wh prior storage at LDE  ex F-WWCC
 Airbus A340  -313  414     EC-LKS  Iberia  last svc 14oct13 SAL-MAD prior return to lessor mid-nov13   ex OE-IAN
 Airbus A380  -841  124     G-XLEC  British Airways  delivery 18oct13 TLS-LHR   ex F-WWSC