We know Airbus is stopping A380 production. We also know that airlines are accelerating the retirement of them. But unlike past airframes, there appears to be absolutely no secondary market for them.
A Grim Future For A380 Leaseholders
I’ve written about Air France returning its leased A380s. They are owned by German investment firm Dr Peters. As part of its deal to accept the A380s back from Air France ahead of schedule, Air France must continue to make maintenance payments and lease payments on the engines. Consequently, Dr Peters will “break even” on the investment, hardly anything to celebrate in this time of stock market boom.
And now Dr Peters finds it cannot sell these used airframes. It had hoped to earn about $70MN from each, but now is hoping for $20MN by scrapping them and selling parts. Even demand for those parts as limited as A380 operators around the world scale back.
> Read More On The Airbus A380
- The A380 Is Dead, Long Live The A380
- Six Reasons Air France Is Retiring A380
- Qatar Airways Accelerates A380 Retirement
- Lufthansa Snubs The A380
- Why British Airways Turned Down More A380s
- The Wall Street Journal Battles The Airbus A380
CONCLUSION
Don’t expect to see A380s flying in the developing world for years to come or to serve as a cargo airliner. Depending upon your perspective, the A380 was simply ahead of its time…or misjudged its time.
image: Laurent ERRERA / Creative Commons 2.0
I’m surprised IAG don’t go for them, they were gonna take 12 at the right price directly from Airbus just before the program got cancelled. They have the maintenance facilities and peak load demand on some routes.
Tried premium economy with AF this month, absolutely terrible seats, possibly not the aircraft’ fault but still not a great experience.
Does BA want to buy it for $21 million? Emirates could buy it for $20,000,001 and use it for parts or passenger use depending on its needs.
Um. U can get 2 787’s to fly the same route with far greater flexibility and less total fuel than one A380.
And let’s not talk about the Air France A380, often flown on flagship routes like CDG to LAX. The business class product is closer to premium economy than its competitors’ hard product. Better to retire the plane than to redo this woefully out-of-date upper deck.
Only time will tell if this plane was ahead of its time, currently it was just a very poor investment. And no one is talking about the infrastructure airports had to put in to support the plane. Until airport slots are really limited and we have tons of people flying certain point to point routes this plane won’t hold much appeal. Clearly Airbus took a chance but seriously over-estimated the demand.
Personally I hope this beauty of the sky remains for years to come. I love this plane and would be sad to see the end of it. Time does look to be running out though.
Looking forward to flying on the AF A380 before they are all gone!
This is why I am not bidding in the Mexican President’s 787 raffle. If I were to win the unwanted 787, I could not afford to maintain the plane. I also might be as successful as Dr. Peters in leasing my 787. I would have no money to fly the plane to VCV to get it scrapped, if even there is anyone there who would be willing to pay for the plane.