Coronavirus: the clinical death of the A380

Text by: Philippe Lecaplain

The Covid-19 crisis grounded a very large number of aircraft around the world. They too are in "confinement" with preservation and regular maintenance measures to keep them in flight for the day when traffic resumes. But there is an airplane whose fate is sealed: it is the A380

Publicity

The Airbus A380 is the largest civilian aircraft in the world, the one preferred by pilots and favored by passengers who appreciate its silence on board. While waiting for better days, it could have been parked on a tarmac at Roissy or London airports.

Instead, almost all of the British Airways A380s are lined up at Châteauroux aerodrome, which has large parking lots. But it is also there, in central France, that some planes are deconstructed. Another bad sign, Air France A380s are starting to land in the Spanish desert of Teruel.

In this dry place, planes can be stored without too much damage thanks to a “cocooning” operation carried out by Tarmac Aerosave technicians who, last year, also carried out the first deconstruction project for the “air liner” "

However, while an airliner has an estimated lifespan between thirty and forty years, the A380 is only thirteen years old. Only 252 units have left the Airbus assembly lines. The bet of the European manufacturer had been to bet on an explosion of traffic. If this phenomenon has turned out, commercial practice has rather consisted in a multiplication of air links using planes of smaller capacity.

"  The A380 therefore never really found its niche," explains Michel Polacco, columnist for the aeromorning.com site . Only companies like Emirates, British Airways, Singapore Airlines and Quantas have made the most of it  . ” For this aeronautical specialist, "   the Covid-19 has finished killing the commercialization and the commercial future of the large Airbus  ".

Take off with half the passengers?

The manufacturer had stopped production. Air France had already advanced the date for the withdrawal of its A380s to 2022. Chances are that because of the coronavirus, it will not make them take off again.

Other companies may wait a little longer before giving it the final blow. Emirates has immobilized 38 but continues to operate a hundred others, for the moment. "  The British company should continue to fly it to compensate for the few" slots "available in London , explains Michel Polacco, because the large passenger carrying capacity makes it possible to compensate for the difficulty in having take-off slots and landings  ".

Other carriers could find in the A380 the means to resume their flight program while respecting the social distancing measures. Taking off with half the passengers could ensure minimum profitability, but nothing is less certain. Recently, Alexandre de Juniac, who chairs IATA, which brings together 290 airlines, believed that it would be useless to fly an airplane with fewer passengers if it was a dead end.   

Newsletter With the Daily Newsletter, find the headlines directly in your mailbox

Follow all international news by downloading the RFI application

• Coronavirus
• Aeronautics

On the same subject

Coronavirus: Ryanair to cut 3,000 jobs

Today the economy

Airbus and Boeing in the coronavirus turmoil

Aviation: even nailed to the ground because of the Covid-19, planes need maintenance