Airbus Updates No.3002

 Qatar Airways CEO Says Half Its A380 Fleet Will Be Retired

Qatar Airways CEO, Akbar Al Baker, has confirmed half his A380s won’t fly for the airline again. Speaking at a CAPA Live event today, Mr Al Baker said the A380 was one of the worst planes in the sky when it came to emissions and overall efficiency. The airline isn’t operating any of its A380s at the moment. Expanding on the subject, Mr Al Baker went on to say in the future, only half of Qatar’s A380s will fly again.

Qatar Airways won’t be bringing back half of its A380 fleet. Photo: Qatar Airways

“And when we operate them (the A380s again), we will only operate half the numbers we have,” he said.

When it comes to the A380, Akbar Al Baker has the seven-year itch

Qatar Airways has ten A380s in its fleet. The first arrived at the airline in 2014 and the most recent in 2018. Seven years ago, Akbar Al Baker was full of praise for the mega jumbo.

“By introducing the A380 to our ever-expanding fleet, it will strengthen Doha’s position as a key regional and global aviation hub.

“The arrival of the A380 opens a new chapter in the unparalleled, signature service we provide to travelers on board with Qatar Airways.”

Akbar Al Baker (left) in happier days, picking up his first A380. Photo: Airbus

In 2021, Akbar Al Baker has fallen out of love with the plane. Speaking with Peter Harbinson at CAPA Live on Wednesday, the airline CEO was decidedly lukewarm about the plane. All ten of the Qatar A380s are grounded and Akbar Al Baker says they will stay that way for the foreseeable future. He went on to confirm that when the A380 does resume flying for Qatar Airways, half of the fleet will stay on the ground permanently.

“If you are interested in purchasing one for yourself, I will sell it to you,” he joked

There’s been a certain amount of speculation about the future of Qatar Airways A380 fleet. It’s speculation familiar to most operators of the A380. Most of those, like Qatar Airways, have temporarily grounded them.

Qatar Airways was keeping its options open when it came to the A380

As recently as December, the airline was keeping its options open. Mark Drusch, a senior Vice President at Qatar Airways, told Simple Flying that while there was no rush to return the A380s to service, ultimately they would probably all get flying again.

But Mr Drusch did flag Qatar’s concerns about the A380s environmental impact and general efficiency. That’s a topic Akbar Al Baker returned to today. The airline CEO sang the praises of the A350, particularly the A350-1000. Peter Harbinson challenged Mr Al Baker on his previous claims the A380-800 has twice the emissions of an A350-1000 on long-haul routes.

Akbar Al Baker went into bat for the A350-1000, especially in comparison to the older A380s.

“The A380 is one of the worst aircraft when it comes to emissions that is flying today.” According to Mr Al Baker, it is for this reason half the A380s won’t return to service. That’s unlikely to be the whole story about why half of Qatar Airways’ A380s won’t fly for the airline again. But right now, that’s the spin the airline is putting on the decision.

Airbus Updates No.2912

 

Singapore Airlines Retires Seven More Airbus A380s

Singapore Airlines is to retire a further seven Airbus A380 aircraft this quarter. The airline became the first carrier to retire the giant of the skies, with its first five retirements taking place between 2017 and 2018. This will leave Singapore Airlines with 12 Airbus A380s.

Singapore Airlines is set to retire seven Airbus A380s. Photo: Getty Images

The Airbus A380 is the largest passenger aircraft currently in the skies. However, the large capacity has always been its downfall. This excessive capacity has made the giant of the skies even more problematic for airlines as they struggle to fill their aircraft amid the COVID crisis. Tied in with this is the lower fuel efficiency of powering four large engines.

Seven more A380s to be retired

Singapore Airlines is set to retire a further seven Airbus A380 aircraft from its fleet. The airline took delivery of a total of 24 A380s from Airbus. It was notable in that it was the launch customer of the aircraft back in 2007. The airline retired its first A380 in June 2017, according to Planespotters.net.

t was always intended that these first A380s wouldn’t stay in the fleet for long. However, until now, further retirements had not been on the cards. Yet, Singapore Airlines hasn’t been flying the type since traffic around the world ground to a halt in the first quarter of the year.

Singapore Airlines was the first airline to retire some Airbus A380s. Photo: AviationTag

However, it’s not only the Airbus A380 that is surplus in Singapore Airlines’ fleet due to the current situation. In its latest quarterly results, the airline revealed that it has an excess of 26 aircraft. This is comprised of:

• Seven Airbus A380s
• Four Boeing 777-200/200ERs
• Four Boeing 777-300s
• Nine Airbus A320s
• Two Airbus A319s

The airline recorded an impairment of $1.3 billion on the carrying values of these older aircraft.

What is happening to Singapore’s retired A380s?

So far, Singapore Airlines had retired five Airbus A380s. While four of these were turned into scrap, the fifth one got a second lease of life when Hi Fly took it for wet lease operations. Earlier this week, Hi Fly revealed that it would be retiring the only A380 that it is operating. This is also likely the only A380 that will ever be converted for use as a cargo aircraft, albeit in a makeshift configuration.

TARMAC Aerosave in Tarbes has already scrapped at least two of the airline’s Airbus A380s. It had even been possible to buy parts of these aircraft at the time. Recently Emirates flew its first retired Airbus A380 to the Tarbes facility, while Etihad flew an A380 to the French aircraft graveyard yesterday, although this was possibly for storage. Some retired Air France A380s were also sent to the facility.

Emirates recently retired its first Airbus A380 to Tarbes. Photo: Getty Images

It was not immediately clear which Singapore Airlines A380s would be retired. However, seven have been in deep storage at Australia’s Alice Springs. These could be obvious candidates.