A380 - Master Thread

[Spaniard]

All eyes need to be on the return of 9V-SKP which last flew mid-October and in a week will reach the 5 month mark.

She’s back on service, do we know if she’s been refitted to V3?

[FN-GM]

Think the A380s early retirement looks more apparent now as with this virus we see now and even Korean Air have grunded all its A380s, together with Lufthansa and even Qantas using only 2 of its A380s only and with much earlier announcement of Air France retiring its A380s even before this Covid19. It seems like the A380 is just too big and mainly because of its 4 engines and less efficient than newer twins. Emirates too have retired a few of its 9 to 11 year old A380s and will have to see what Emirates will do with its A380s as it have the most aircraft.

Fleet management in airlines is a long term strategic plan. I can't see how a relatively short term problem such as this virus would impact long term fleet plans.

[flyguy]

Think the A380s early retirement looks more apparent now as with this virus we see now and even Korean Air have grunded all its A380s, together with Lufthansa and even Qantas using only 2 of its A380s only and with much earlier announcement of Air France retiring its A380s even before this Covid19. It seems like the A380 is just too big and mainly because of its 4 engines and less efficient than newer twins. Emirates too have retired a few of its 9 to 11 year old A380s and will have to see what Emirates will do with its A380s as it have the most aircraft.

[nocturne]

https://www.executivetraveller.com/n...ngapore-london

The 2nd airline to mothball A380 operations.

[SQ228]

All eyes need to be on the return of 9V-SKN which last flew mid-October and in a week will reach the 5 month mark. If they can’t manage 4 planes per year, the program would easily head into 2023 for all to be refitted. SKP has been out for a month now, although I’m reticent to assume it’s a refit as A380s have been known to get a month of maintenance and then return in the past.

What I would be certain of is that SKL, SKM, SKQ & SKR will be the next to follow as this variant has never been as versatile in its application to many routes and by now with the saga of SKT taking so long, they must have plenty of knowledge of what needs to be done to convert the old v2 layout. The desire to eliminate having three cabin layouts as soon as possible would also be a factor.

The question in my mind though, is whether refitting the older cabin layout will take some further working out. It looks simple enough on a seat map with toilets on v1 where galleys are on v2, but there’s undoubtedly more to it than that, unless it is a case of gut everything and start again in which case it could explain why they are taking so long.

[9V-SPL]

Based on recent reports, nothing suggests they’re cutting back on their original plan of refitting all of SKF-SKT.
In reality, progress has been terrible...3 years after the initial announcement only SKS has rolled out refitted. SKF-SKI will easily be at least 13+yrs old by the time their $30mil refit has been done. Hmmmmm.

Are any of the other -A380s leases btw?

9V-SKT has also been refitted.

[ell3]

Based on recent reports, nothing suggests they’re cutting back on their original plan of refitting all of SKF-SKT.
In reality, progress has been terrible...3 years after the initial announcement only SKS has rolled out refitted. SKF-SKI will easily be at least 13+yrs old by the time their $30mil refit has been done. Hmmmmm.

Are any of the other -A380s leases btw?

[flyguy]

SQ will still need to fly the A380s on some long-haul routes, but it can reduce the frequency by temporary reducing or cancelling its other widebody aircraft for example still using its A380 from SIN to SYD while reducing a 777 flight. But overall, there will be excess capacity and will see some A380s on the ground.

[SMK77]

3 points to compare LH and SQ:

1) Seat Load Factor

Lufthansa was never happy with their A380 fleet as for most of the time they are not able to sell the massive increase of Economy seats on the A380. Very different to SQ as they have lots of transit passengers in SIN.

2) Government pays salaries

In Germany, employers can apply for a special program where they promise to keep employees in the long run but are allowed to send them home for some months. The government in return pays employees 60% of their net salary to avoid hardship. While LH still has to pay for social security, they don't have to pay for the salaries.

3) LH owns their A380

All 14 aircraft are owned and written off already. LH doesn't need any cash flow to pay for leasing rates or depreciation.

[nocturne]

In the short term, does it make sense to ground all the A380s given that load factor is low across the sectors?

Lufthansa has done just that if their 14 A380s

[a340-313x]

As it so happens, the AD seems to only apply to MSN<40, which would be SKF-SKI, so I guess it could well be 15.

[flyguy]

Yes SQ will still continue to do the refit for at least another 7 A380s. The oldest 4 in the fleet wil most unlikely to be done as these 4 as reported by AB that they potentially have wing crack issues and have issued ADs to have them checked periodically since last year.
We could very likely see SQ operating 15 A380s in the next 2 years.

[a340-313x]

This might explain why the A380 cabin refits have stalled.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=251WGe1MiLk

Do you reckon it's possible they may not need all 19 A380s, but are thinking between 10-15 might be a more reasonable fleet size?

They've already done two, so they now have 7 in the new config, and seem to be in the process of doing at least one more.

[FN-GM]

This might explain why the A380 cabin refits have stalled.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=251WGe1MiLk

[SQfanatic]

Hello, does anyone know when the new Business Class in the A380 will be fly on the route to Frankfurt (SQ25/SQ26)?

Is there a chance for December 2020?
Thanks

Since SQ26/25 for a daily flight requires 3 frames, this would depend on the number of aircraft refitted so it’s very complex to answer.

Some A380 services have been cut and using the 77W to China so it might give some slack for refitting.