Air France will retire its Airbus A380 fleet ahead of schedule for at least six unique reasons.
In a wide-ranging interview with Air France-KLM CEO Ben Smith, Skift’s Brian Sumers brought up Air France’s recent decision to retire the A380. Smith offered six reasons for the early retirement.
1. A380 Fleet is Too Small
Smith argued that with only 10 aircraft, delays or cancellations create an unnecessarily large burden. Without extra A380s sitting around, issues on full flights create a ripple effect since passengers cannot simply be transferred to another aircraft in most cases.
2. A380 is Operationally Unreliable
Smith called the A380 “the poorest performer from an operational perspective” blaming many delays and cancellations on the A380 itself.
3. Unplanned Heavy Maintenance Checks
Smith cited “unplanned” heavy maintenance checks on these aircrafts, noting that upcoming engine overhauls will cost €55 million per aircraft.
4. Pricey Interior Cabin Retrofits
In addition to the maintenance overhauls, the A380 cabin interiors are in need of retrofit, a process that would cost €30-40 million per aircraft.
5. Reduced Frequencies
Smith noted that such a large aircraft comes at the expense of reduced frequencies, while business travelers prefer small aircraft if it means more schedule choice. Thus, “The airplane does not offer us any economical advantage versus other airplanes.”
6. No Compelling Slot Restrictions At A380 Airports
In what I found to be the most interesting point, Smith argued that the large airports the A380 currently flies to do not have capacity restraints that warrant an A380.
Then there is a last item which is unique for Air France. Charles de Gaulle Airport here is not full. We can add frequencies. British Airways at Heathrow is full. Frankfurt is full. Look at the airports that we fly to around the world where such an airplane would be of use. In New York Kennedy, we have five slots. The requirement for an A380 is not there. There’s room at Kennedy. It’s just the prime times that are full. Los Angeles is not full. We use the 380 there. Miami is not full, San Francisco is not full. Mexico City is not full. The need for using an airplane that maximizes a slot is not there.
CONCLUSION
Smith logically and unemotionally outlines six persuasive reasons why Air France will retire its A380 superjumbo jet. Put together, you simply cannot fault Air France for its decision to retire this aircraft ahead of schedule.
> Read More: Air France A380 Retirement Is Hardly A Surprise
> Read More: My Strong Desire To Fly The Air France A380…
image: Air France
The 380 was sort of rendered useless by ULCC’s flying long haul and driving economy prices into the ground. Air france could have used the 380 to flow more people from JFK into europe while still having a strong schedule, but now the economics don’t work nearly as well as when they ordered the plane.
I maintain that in general the a380 is going to meet a fairly swift demise because the plane was not built with any secondary market purpose. The one plane HiFly has tried to lease sure looks like a failure given the limited charters it has had in the last year. So I don’t see many airlines stepping up to buy these second hand for passenger use. Then even more importantly it has no cargo application. So on the one hand you see airlines dumping big money to squeeze more years out of ancient 767’s with brand new interiors, because they can get back the revenues in the short run and know that cargo airlines will be fighting to buy the planes at the other end. However apart from EK and of course these new ANA planes, most A380’s in the sky are getting extremely dated with no concrete plans from anyone’s fleets to upgrade them that I have seen. So this is likely the beginning of a trend.
I’d agree. The case for BA and LH is a bit different, given their capacity constraints at their primary hubs, especially BA, but unless the demise of A380 operations with AF decreases operational costs, it’ll be hard to justify keeping what’s turned out to be a fairly unreliable and expensive to operate aircraft.
I think it’s clear that the A380 was the answer to a question that never really came to fruition. Were it more efficient, perhaps it could have gained traction.
I think what really doomed it (and where the 747 has been wildly successful) is that it wasn’t designed with a cargo (or cargo conversion capable) version. Demand for cargo versions is what’s kept the 747 line open, improved 747 economies of scale, and maintained 747 values in the secondary market. Airbus’ refusal to pursue that opportunity doomed the plane from the start.
This won’t be as sad as having to say goodbye to the Concorde, but I’ll miss Air France’s A380’s nevertheless.
That said, does anyone know why there’s a big port-side lavatory forward of the front Business Class cabin, but on the starboard side – where a second lavatory would be most useful – there’s instead that weird ‘gallery’ (i.e. ‘useless empty floor space’)?
They could wet lease it to Garuda Indonesia in the upcoming hajj season. Tough the passengers wouldn’t care about the luxurious thing, it get the job done. Transporting as much as you can in a single flight.
Product over profit! AIr France’s stock price should be lowered by this ridiculous move!
I do not believe they are giving priority to profit over product. They are actually trying to provide a better product at a higher profit. Their A380s are pretty much the most outdated aircraft type in their long-haul fleet. The first class is sub-par compared to the B777 fleet, business class is the worst out of their long-haul fleet (even the refurbished 6-abreast A330s feature flat beds unlike the A380), the economy class has not been refurbished to their newest standard yet. When I was booking a flight from LAX to CDG in business, I honestly looked for the flight(s) NOT operated by the A380 just to get Air France’s better cabin.
Brian, please explain?
The plural of aircraft is aircraft, NOT ‘aircrafts’
So, regarding your first reason, why did you order only 10 A380s in the first place? Why didn’t you order more? You could have been another big A380 operator right?
I wish AF had been. The economics didn’t work out.