Sam Chui recently sat down with H.E. Akbar Al Baker, the CEO of Qatar Airways. The interview touched on many topics, but discussion on the future of the A380 caught my attention. Al Baker is clear: he sees no future for the A380.
Qatar Airways CEO Dooms A380
Chui asked about the future of the A380 and whether Qatar Airways intended to resume its own A380 service. Al Baker responded:
Frankly, we have already taken impairment on five of them; so we are writing off five of the 10 we have. If the pandemic continues to extend over the next 2-3 year period, we will be forced to take impairment on the remaining five.
There is no future for the A380. It was the wrong aeroplane at the wrong time. It is something that passengers love, many liked to travel on the A380. It’s very quite and it’s very spacious, but at the end of the day, for the operator, it’s really painful to keep them in the skies.
The operating costs are punishing and so are the maintenance costs, an A380 at C check is three times the cost of that of a B777 or an A350-1000.
If you look at the fuel burn per seat mile, It’s way above that of any other airplane that is flying today; and you know, it is the aim of Qatar Airways to keep on growing and become carbon neutral with that growth, that airplane just doesn’t help us in that respect.
I not only think the A380 is an inefficient aircraft, but some people are still bragging that they’re going to start operating it and that it’s going to be a very profitable airplane. Let’s see how long they will be able to sustain that after the pandemic. When there is a huge movement on the green front, passengers will not want to get into an airplane that has a high pollution rating.
Interview @qatarairways GCEO H.E. Akbar Al Baker on the future of A380. Qatar Airways already taken impairment on 5 of 10 A380
In the fleet. pic.twitter.com/wJx1il7Fgt— Sam Chui (@SamChuiPhotos) April 14, 2021
Key takeaways:
- It is unlikely Qatar Airways will bring back its five remaining A380s into service
- With C checks approaching, this goes beyond mere passenger demands
- Al Baker believes environmentally-conscious passengers will not tolerate the A380
- Consequently, no airline will find the A380 profitable to operate.
On that last point, I think Al Baker misses the economy of scales argument. There’s a huge difference between Qatar Airways operating a fleet of five A380s and Emirates operating a fleet of over 100. Furthermore, passengers still do love the A380 and I believe airline demand will return quicker than forecast…it is simply a matter of borders re-opening.
CONCLUSION
While I think it is unlikely that Qatar Airways will bring back its A380s into service, I do see a future for the A380 at Emirates, Qantas, and Singapore Airlines. Al Baker overstates green concerns and undervalues how much consumers actually love this aircraft.
What do you think about the future of the A380 at Qatar Airways and in general?
> Read More: Qatar Airways A380 First Class Review
I don’t give a rat’s aperture about environmental consciousness. To paraphrase a song, ‘Put me in coach, I’m ready to pay today. ‘
Baker doesn’t care w wit about the green aspect of this aircraft. If he could make money having it belch coal smoke he’d fly it across the street.
“It’s very quite (sic) and very spacious….” So, it’s time to call it quits I guess. I’ll be quiet now.
If he owned over 100 A380s, I doubt he would be saying that.
As for being green, I hate to say this but at the end of the day, the average customer only cares about one thing: price.
Exactly, the other green!
It’s breathtaking to think that one day I will be telling my future grandchildren that once upon a time I flew on a supersonic jet and planes that had staircases, upper decks, bars and showers. By then airlines should have perfected how to layer passengers like wood piles and offer packets of hydration/protein tubes as your meal.
I don’t believe this at all. Sam Chui and Akbar al Baker are people who are well-known to be full of sh*t.
The A380 is a great aircraft, I have flown over 50 long haul flight on her. As for the green concern, well in the last 20 years aviation has cut its green house gasses emissions to approximately 2% of global greenhouse gasses – I never understand why environmentalist pick on aviation why not fast food companies that sell beef burgers which is the single largest producer of green house gasses- cows and bulls, but no they don’t count. This is the crazy world we live in today. The A380 will continue to fly for the next 10 plus years and I have no qualms about flying on her. Neither should you!
Sam Chui is a hack. Blatantly plagiarized someone last year.
https://twitter.com/winglets747/status/1249962174555930627?s=21
It’s a shame to see the A38O. The Middle East airlines gave it a try but it’s not working out. They are also airlines from oil producing countries that are feeling the brunt of climate change. They know that’s going to get worse. This is an emission reduction driven by internal politics. There is a huge move right now from industries to reduce their foot print.
“There’s a huge difference between Qatar Airways operating a fleet of five A380s and Emirates operating a fleet of over 100. ”
“I do see a future for the A380 at Emirates, Qantas, and Singapore Airlines”
QR: 10 A380s
QF: 12 A380s
SQ: 12 A380s
EK: over 100
One of these things is not like the other…
In all seriousness, I don’t see you actually making a case for SQ/QF. More like wishful thinking. Yes, there are passenger experience benefits to larger planes. Which is why United still has lounges in economy on the 747-800s they ordered, just like they used to have them in their 747s in the 1970- oh, wait, no they didn’t order 747-800s and don’t have lounges in economy, because the economics of smaller planes and cramming in passengers won out.
There’s going to be a lot of retrenchment in business travel now that we just spent a year plus realizing how much of it is completely nonessential fluff (quite a bit). It’s not going to be abolished, but companies are going to realize how much of that money they can recapture for their bottom lines by more Zoom calls and less plane tickets. Business travel is what makes LH/ULH travel work on that second deck for QF/SQ. Remove some of that demand and the economics won’t work.
EK is going to keep using A380s and figuring out how to make them work because they don’t have a choice, unless they want to downsize their fleet massively (they’ll likely end up with more of those 615 seater J/Y A380s, so much for “shower class”). SQ and QF do have choices, and they’re probably going to end up making the same choice LH, BA, AF, TG, OZ and MH made- switch to twin engine jets (especially since the newest generation ones are so much more efficient) and retire A380s.
@Surfer
Supposedly, not the only time he has dome that…hack indeed.
I’m hoping qf a380 sticks around. I really like their first class (I know a minority opinion). It’s not etihad but I think it’s more private and a better seat than jal for eg
Experts said the 380 would takeover the world. So much for experts.
So then why did he order the type in the first place?