Airbus was able to note down another order for new aircraft during the visit of Malaysia's Prime Minister to France. This time, the manufacturer signed a deal with state carrier Malaysia Airlines for more A330-900s. The carrier is doubling its commitment to the type by ordering another 20. Deliveries are scheduled to take place between 2029 and 2031.
Malaysia Airlines placed its first order for twenty A330-900s back in 2022. Ten were directly ordered with Airbus, the other ten are leased from Avolon. The airline took delivery of its first A330-900 in November 2024 and currently has four in service. They are deployed from Kuala Lumpur to Auckland, Denpasar and Melbourne.
The harvested components are set to be sold in the secondary parts market, while the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines will be available for lease.
The company claims it still sees strong demand for A380 parts. "With deliveries of Boeing’s 777X platform delayed until at least 2026, there is an increasing reliance on the A380 to fill the need for large, long-haul aircraft," said Tommy Hughes, the chief executive officer of VAS Aero Services.
The teardown of the three aircraft will be conducted in collaboration with Tarmac Aerosave.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, D-AIME, D-AIMF, and EI-HKC have been stored since 2020. The ex-Lufthansa A380-800s were produced in 2010 and are currently stored at Teruel. The aircraft previously used by Malaysia Airlines rolled out in 2012 and is parked at Lourdes/Tarbes.
Airbus produced 254 A380-800s, but only 182 remain in service. The biggest operator of the quadjet is Emirates, which currently operates 118 of the aircraft.
In total, Lufthansa operated fourteen A380-800s but only eight are active at the moment. Malaysia Airlines fully retired its A380 fleet, which consisted of six aircraft, by 2022.
On 19 December 2022, Malaysia Airlines officially said goodbye to the Airbus A380 by flying its last one from Kuala Lumpur to Tarbes-Lourdes for storage. The A380 in question was 9M-MNF (114), which had its titles and logos removed, expect for the "100th A380" stickers.
Malaysia Airlines has traded-in its Airbus A380s as part of a deal it signed with Airbus for new A330-900s. In total, the airline operated six A380s between 2012 and 2020:
9M-MNA (078), delivered on 29 May 2012, retired on 7 February 2020 and flown to Tarbes-Lourdes on 12 December 2022.
9M-MNB (081), delivered on 10 August 2012, retired on 7 March 2020 and flown to Tarbes-Lourdes on 28 November 2022.
9M-MNC (084), delivered on 26 October 2012, retired on 26 February 2020 and flown to Tarbes-Lourdes on 14 November 2022.
9M-MND (089), delivered on 31 October 2012, retired on 20 April 2020 and ferried to Tarbes-Lourdes on 21 November 2022.
9M-MNE (094), delivered on 7 February 2013, retired on 11 February 2020 and arrived at Tarbes-Lourdes on 5 December 2022.
9M-MNF (114), delivered on 13 March 2013, retired on 30 April 2020 and ferried to Tarbes-Lourdes on 19 December 2022.
With the departure of the A380, Malaysia Airlines' fleet now consists of nine A330-200s, fifteen A330-300s, six A350-900s, and 43 Boeing B737-800s.
Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG), the parent company of Malaysia Airlines (MH, Kuala Lumpur Int'l), is returning its six inactive A380-800s to Airbus in a deal reportedly reached during recent negotiations to acquire twenty A330-900Ns. The first of the A380s - 9M-MNA (msn 78) - only arrived at the airline in 2012. Collectively, they were deployed on select routes to Europe, Australia, and within Asia.
Malaysia Airlines parked its A380s in 2020 at the start of the pandemic. In July 2021, the airline issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) soliciting bids for the sale of the six planes but attracted no serious interest.
In mid-August 2022, MAG ordered twenty A330neo jets on behalf of Malaysia Airlines. A total of 10 planes will be directly purchased from Airbus with a back-to-back sale/lease-back arrangement with Avolon, while the remaining 10 will be leased directly from Avolon. When the deal was announced, there was no mention of the fine print facilitating the A380s return. According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, all six Malaysia Airlines A380s are inactive and stored at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
"The plan is for Airbus to take back all the aircraft by the end of this year. It's up to them what they want to do with the aircraft." an airline source told Malaysia's New Straits Times, adding that discussions about precise return dates and where the A380s would be sent are ongoing.
In a statement provided to ch-aviation, a Malaysia Airlines spokesperson said that "Malaysia Aviation Group plans to retire and exit A380 by the end of 2022. However, the terms related to the deal with Airbus remain confidential." Airbus also declined to provide further details, citing confidentiality.
Malaysia Airlines (MH, Kuala Lumpur Int'l) has issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) soliciting bids for the sale of six A380-800s with a deadline for offers to be sent by August 13, 2021.
The carrier said it would only release the detailed documentation to pre-approved bidders who sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) by August 12. It tentatively plans to conclude the sale by November, although it also retained the right to not choose any of the bids.
According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, the six Airbus double-deckers are 9.2 years old on average and range from 8.7 to 9.8 years of age individually. As of February 28, 2021, they have accumulated from 23,819 to 28,386 flight hours each, and from 2,277 to 2,618 flight cycles each. The aircraft are equipped with 412 seats in economy class (except for a single unit, 9M-MNA (msn 78), with 420), 66 in business class, and eight in first class.
All of them were grounded in February and March 2020, when the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic halted all pilgrimages to the Muslim holy sites. Since then, the aircraft have only been reactivated for sporadic test flights around Kuala Lumpur. In May 2021, Malaysia Airlines confirmed that it would not seek to return the A380s to service and would instead try to sell them.
Malaysia Airlines To Retire Airbus A380 Fleet In Coming Months
Malaysia Airlines has become the latest in a string of airlines to ditch the Airbus A380. The airline plans to retire its Airbus A380s over the coming months. Given the poor second-hand market for the jet, the airline is still figuring out its gameplan to retire the type.
Malaysia Airlines becomes the latest airline to cast doubt on the Airbus A380’s retirement. Photo: Getty Images
While the Airbus A380 is an excellent aircraft for its purpose, its purpose is sadly relatively niche. Even before the current pandemic, some airlines were looking to retired the type at just ten years old. Airbus even saw the futility in continued marketing of the A380, pulling it from sale in early 2019.
Malaysia’s A380s going, going, gone
According to Reuters, Malaysia Airlines is set to retire its entire Airbus A380 fleet over the coming months. According to the publication, the airline’s Group Chief Executive Captain, Izham Ismail, commented,
“We are cognizant of the challenges to sell this aeroplane, but we are still looking at ways and means to dispose of our 380 fleet. At the moment, the management is convinced that the 380 doesn’t fit the future plan.”
Malaysia Airlines’ fleet of six Airbus A380s has an average age of nine years. Photo: Getty Images
How do you get rid of an Airbus A380?
Getting rid of an Airbus A380 isn’t the easiest thing to achieve in the world. Typically such a young aircraft would be sold on to have a second chance at life once its first owner has finished with it.
While a handful of airlines are interested in preserving their existing Airbus A380 fleets, they are not currently interested in taking any more aircraft, with the expectation of Emirates who is still expecting five new A380s from Airbus.
Outside of existing A380 operators, nobody wants to go near the giant with a four-foot barge pole. A second-hand market for the jet never got going. The aircraft is undesirable as, outside of a few niche applications, it is hard to fill, expensive to run, and inefficient.
Malaysia Airlines currently has a fleet of six Airbus A380 aircraft. Planespotters.net reveals that the airline’s oldest jet is 9.5 years old, while the youngest is 8.5 years old. According to Airbus’ iflyA380 website, the aircraft officially flew to London and Hong Kong at the time of its grounding. The jet has been seen operating other routes in the past. The aircraft was also used by the airline to operate Hajj pilgrimage flights between Kuala Lumpur and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.
Malaysia Airlines (MH, Kuala Lumpur Int'l) has scrapped plans to reconfigure its six A380-800 into high-density, all-economy layout seating up to 700 passengers but continues to proceed towards the establishment of a charter unit dedicated to Hajj and Umrah services using the Airbus double-deckers, Air Transport World has reported.
According to Izham Ismail, Malaysia Airlines' chief executive, the aircraft will continue to fly in its current configuration, seating 484 passengers in a three-class layout. The premium seats can attract high-end pilgrimage passengers and will also make it easier for the airline to use the A380s on Malaysia Airlines' scheduled network during peak times.
The new charter unit of the Malaysian carrier is expected to be spun off from the parent later this year. The name of the subsidiary will be announced soon, Ismail has added. The new unit will take over Hajj and Umrah flights to Jeddah and Madinah once it has secured necessary approvals from both the Malaysian and the Saudi Arabian authorities. Until then, the services will continue to be operated by Malaysia AIrlines itself.
Malaysia Airlines (MH, Kuala Lumpur Int'l) has signed a three-year charter contract with Andalusia Travel & Tours Sdn Bhd, a Malaysian tour operator, covering A380-800 services out of Kuala Lumpur Int'l to each of Madinah and Jeddah for Hajj and Umrah pilgrimage, the Malaysian Reserve has reported.
The contract covers a total of around 200 roundtrip flights and runs from August 2018 through August 2021.
These flights will eventually be transferred to a new unit planned within the Malaysia Aviation Group which will be dedicated to Hajj and Umrah charters once it secures all necessary authorisations from both the Malaysian and the Saudi authorities. The subsidiary is tentatively scheduled to launch in late-2018.
The carrier had previously announced its plan to reconfigure all six of its A380s into an all-economy layout seating around 700 passengers, up from 494 in the current three-class layout. While the aircraft main task in the future will be Hajj and Umrah charters, the carrier also plans to deploy the A380s opportunistically on other key routes.
According to Flightradar24 ADS-B data, Malaysia Airlines continues to deploy the A380s on select services to Tokyo Narita and Hong Kong Int'l. It also operates charter flights to Madinah and Jeddah using these units. Three aircraft, 9M-MNA (msn 78), 9M-MNB (msn 81), and 9M-MNC (msn 84) appear to have been stored at Kuala Lumpur since March 25, April 2, and April 8, respectively.
Following crew familiarization flights that are expected to take place over the coming weeks, the A350s will be deployed on longhaul routes to London Heathrow in January of next year. The type will eventually replace the carrier's existing fleet of six A380-800s.
Malaysia Airlines to add more Airbus A330-900s
