20 May, 2020

Air France to phase-out entire Airbus A380 fleet early.




Sad news for the doubled decked A380 as Air France confirmed today that it was going to phase out the giant Airbus aircraft ahead of schedule due to the coronavirus COVID-19 crisis.

Air France had struggled to find a niche of its A380 aircraft,  it failed to offer a unique or relevant service, often reviewed as a lacklustre. The carrier had originally planned to phase out the aircraft from the end of 2022, not the aircraft will go during this quarter.  The Airbus A380 will be replaced by new generation aircraft, including Airbus A350 and Boeing 787, whose deliveries are ongoing.


Five of the Airbus A380 aircraft in the current fleet are owned by Air France or on finance lease, while four are on operating lease. The global impact of the Airbus A380 phase-out write down is estimated at 500 million euros and will be booked in the second quarter of 2020 as a non-current cost/expenses.

The Dubai based Emirates is currently in negotiations with Airbus about reducing the number of A380s it has on order, from eight to three, converting the other five to A350 planes.  Airbus has refused to comment




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