Who said Airbus A380 is an extinct Species ? It's here to Stay , Lufthansa has given the recent Proof !

• The iconic A380 has flown over 800,000 flights carrying more than 300 million passengers since its entry into service.
• A380 is the largest civil aircraft in history (max seating capacity of 853) , with a maximum take-off weight of 575 tonnes.
• A380 will keep flying for this decade atleast , and Airbus promised to fully support A380 operators and their fleets.

Many were forced to do , so did Lufthansa !  As announced today , the German carrier is reactivating the A380 in response to the steep rise in customer demand & delayed delivery of ordered jets.

Many carriers struggled to map a future for their Super-Jumbos when the pandemic battered the air travel and grounded fleets in early 2020.

We also witnessed , carriers like Singapore Airlines scrapping two of it's A380s , seeing no future of the aircraft , while carriers like Qantas used few of them to feed the 'Spare parts' chain to keeps other A380s alive.

Earlier , Australian Qantas had stored its 12 double-deckers in the Californian Mojave desert , saying they wouldn’t be needed for at least three years , while Etihad Airways said it’s not clear if its 10 superjumbos will ever fly again .

But , 2022 Summer travel changed the Perception of many , the world’s largest passenger plane is enjoying an unlikely revival , defying extinction , to handle an overwhelming rebound in air travel.

Lufthansa  expects to use the double decker aircraft again from summer 2023 and is now assessing how many A380s will be reactivated and which destinations they will fly to.

Lufthansa still has 14 Airbus A380s, which are currently parked in Spain and France for long-term so called “deep storage”. Six of these aircraft have already been sold , eight A380s remain part of the Lufthansa fleet for the time being.

Though the  A380 programme was short lived , won't be erased from the memory soon ! 

It's  Launch with Singapore Airlines had played with the imagination of  travelers owing to the luxurious onboard bars , spacious quiet cabins and few other amenities. Emirates added to the list with it's signature suites later.

Tracing the history of the Programme ,  Airbus started studies on it in the year 1988 , and the project was announced in 1990 to challenge the dominance of the Boeing's B747 Jumbo jet in the long-haul market.

The then-designated A3XX project was presented in 1994 ;  Airbus launched the €9.5 billion ($10.7 billion) A380 programme on 19th December 2000.

A380 Programme Highlights !

• 19th December 2000 - A380 launch
• 6th April 2004 - First convoy
• 27th April 2005 - First A380 flight took place in Toulouse
• 25th October 2007 - First A380 entry into commercial service with Singapore Airlines
• June 2020 - Last A380 convoy to Toulouse
• Mid - 2021 - A380 end of production.

The Fuel guzzling four engines have been criticized for long ! The arrival of new Fuel efficient engines and partially filled cabin spaces had been creating challenges for the existance of the aircraft.

While all the six 'Malaysian Airlines' and six 'Thai airways' A380s are on sale,  Air France has retired it's Super Jumbos. But , carriers like  All Nippon Airways , Asiana Airways , Korean Airways are planning to reactivate their fleet.

The Executive Board Members of Deutsche Lufthansa AG also announced the reactivation of the A380 in a joint letter to the company's customers:

"In the summer of 2023, we not only expect to have a much more reliable air transport system worldwide. We will be welcoming you back on board our Airbus A380s, too. We decided today to put the A380, which continues to enjoy great popularity, back into service at Lufthansa in summer 2023."

"In addition to this, we are further strengthening and modernizing our fleets with some 50 new Airbus A350, Boeing 787 and Boeing 777-9 long-haul aircraft and more than 60 new Airbus A320/321s in the next three years alone.”

A380 Emission Levels , significantly below international guidelines :

• NOx 30% below CAEP/6, 16.4 EPNdB noise margin to ICAO Chapter 4.
• 33% better fuel burn and CO2 emissions compared to previous generation aircraft.

The Airbus A380 is the world's largest passenger aircraft - it is 73 meters long and 24 meters high and can seat 509 passengers at Lufthansa , while other A380 operators have been : Asiana , British Airways , China Southern , Emirates , Etihad , Korean Air , Lufthansa , Malaysia Airlines , Qantas, Qatar Airways , Singapore Airlines , Thai Airways and ANA .

The total cabin surface area of the A380 is 550m2 :

• Main Deck (MD) cabin, the widest of any airliner, is 20” (51cm) wider than the B747 cabin.
• Upper Deck (UD) cabin, the first full widebody UD cabin ever, is 71” (180cm) wider than the B747 cabin.

Apart from Lufthansa , many are investing in the future of A380, Qantas has  brought  back  three of its aircraft into service and expecting half the fleet flying by the end of  2022 for long-haul routes like the popular Sydney-London. Qantas may see ten cabin modified  A380s to return to the skies by early 2024.

On the other hand , Emirates, which has a fleet of 123  A380s and 77 in service right now , is retrofitting many of them with premium-economy seats , seeing a demand among travelers with money to burn as the pandemic fades.

Some Other Facts about A380 Aircraft :

• A380 needs ~300m shorter runways to take off and land than competing large aircraft.
• It has a lower approach speed (the same as the A320).
•  Range capability (8,000 nm – 15 000 km) in standard 4 class, 545 seats configuration).
• It offers a cruise Mach number of M 0.85 .
• Standard turn-around-time: 90min including boarding time less than 30mins and disembarking time, less than 15 mins.
• Direct upper deck servicing allows the same turn-around-time as existing wide-body aircraft.

Source : Lufthansa , Airbus .