When the pandemic began to bite, the Airbus A380 was the first aircraft type to be grounded
worldwide. Some took the decision to retire their fleets of superjumbos permanently, while
others left the door open for some to return, even if it wasn’t the entirety of the fleet.
For lovers of this double-decked giant, it was a sad and concerning moment. Would we
ever get to fly on the A380 again? Of course, Emirates is so wedded to the type it ultimately
had no choice but to keep it in service, but what if we weren’t transiting through Dubai?
It seemed as if the A380’s days were numbered in other parts of the world.
Things have seemed to change for the better when it comes to A380 services.
Let’s take a look at the superjumbo’s return in today’s video…
2022 has become a turning point in the superjumbo’s fortunes:
From the airlines we knew would eventually bring them back, like British Airways and Qantas,
but later from airlines who had indicated they may never return, such as Lufthansa and Qatar Airways.
It seems the burgeoning pent-up demand for travel is necessitating the return of these huge capacity
airplanes, as airlines look for ways to get more people where they want to go amidst limited ground
handling and airport capacity. Our friends at Spire Global, a data and analytics company, has
shared their tracking data to help us visualize the A380s return over the past 12 months.
In the weeks between May 1st and July 11th, 2021, Spire tracked all flights
operated by Airbus A380s around the world. Unsurprisingly, the biggest operator was Emirates
with 3,347 flights in that time period. The only other airline with significant A380
flights was China Southern with 377. All other airlines had just a handful of A380 operations.
Fast forward to 2022 and, during the same time period,
A380s in service has increased significantly. Emirates has more than doubled its A380 ops,
with 8,594 flights tracked. But its share of A380 activity globally has diminished significantly.
Back in the air are British Airways, Singapore Airlines, and Qatar Airways,
all operating around 1,000 flights with the superjumbo.
Qantas is back on the map too, while Korean and China Southern take smaller pieces of the pie.
Overall, the number of A380s in service has grown dramatically in just one year. In 2021,
Spire tracked fewer than 100 A380s in total, while now, in 2022, the number operating is nearing 150.
Love it or hate it, the A380 has proven that it will take more than COVID to wipe it out.
As well as diversity in operators of the A380, we can also see from the Spire Aviation data
that the destinations being touched by the type had multiplied too. In the period May 1
to July 11, 2021, just 39 destinations saw A380 service. Unsurprisingly, a lot of those
originated in Dubai, although China Southern was also relatively busy with its fleet too.
In the same period in 2022, the destinations served have almost doubled to a total of 65.
We can now see robust operations with the A380 out of London,
Doha and Sydney, alongside the usual Dubai flurry.
Places devoid of A380 activity are seeing the type once again. Notably, India, Southern Africa,
and South America did not see any A380s in the specified period of 2021. In 2022,
several of these destinations are back, as are many more in Europe, Asia, and North America.
Are you happy to see the superjumbo back in the skies?
Let us know in the comments.