What Happened To Each Of Air France’s Airbus A380s?
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- Опубликовано: 29 ноя 2021
- One of the biggest aviation casualties of the pandemic has been the Airbus A380. Very early on in March 2020, Air France announced it would be retiring all of its Airbus A380 superjumbos early. The airline previously had nine in its fleet at the time, but what has happened to each of these jets since their retirement?
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Video sources:
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The A380 is a remarkable achievement which solved a problem that no longer exists for most carriers.
what was the problems?
@@imnamu7047 transporting large numbers across vast distances to get them from hub to hub as efficiently as possible. The need for a hub and spoke model has been reduced through more direct point to point flights, largely thanks to more efficient and higher range smaller aircraft.
@@commerce-usa This may be more true once Heathrow gets its third runway and/or Gatwick upgrades to a second runway.
I flew with F-HPJB in December 2019 from CDG to LAX. He was retired a week later. He was already painted in white and the interior was in a pretty bad shape. As an avgeek I'm so glad I had this opportunity to fly the flagship aircraft of my national airline just in time before it fully retire , especially since it was my very first long haul flight 😌
This is so disappointing to see aircrafts fully able to fly being sent to the trash , big mess
As of five days ago the HPJE was still at AF’s maintenance zone in CDG (I saw it), white tailed.
I wish we had kept them, I loved flying them, but half of my colleagues didn’t, too many maintenance issues.
For those interested, its nickname was la saucisse de Toulouse, the Toulouse sausage.
The interiors were also highly outdated and too expensive to replace. It was not a prefered ride for premium traffic.
@@johniii8147 Yeah, crews were pissed by the dated cabin from day one and pressed management for an upgrade for years.
In the meantime there were disagreements at the upper levels about buying additional aircrafts and retrofitting a newer top notch cabin.
It ended up that nothing was decided...
@@KyrilPG One of big issues with the 380 is it's extremely expensive to change out. It's $30 to $40 million an aircraft. YOu're basically stuck with the original interior. BA/LH/AF were both hit with they didn't go with a new J class in particular on introduction and went with their older product. Probably because the the aircraft had delays and their was a lock down date on the interiors. Particularly with the 380 as custom as it was in construction you can't change that even a year out.
@@johniii8147 It's expensive yes but proportional to other aircrafts, not more.
A part of AF's management had priced it and it was only a couple percent pricier than on a 777-300ER.
On the other hand the work cost was lower due to faster modifications eased by the way the fitting system is designed.
(And AF has a tight relationship with Airbus, Recaro and other seat manufacturers).
So all in all it was the same cost per comparable number of seats. What's costly in the A380 is a deep configuration structural change, not a regular cabin product upgrade or a simple layout modification.
AF doesn't have fancy custom over-the-top premium amenities like showers so the cost was roughly the same on a seat basis.
You're way over budget > the complete fleet overhaul with ultra premium seating in 4 classes would have cost 200€ million all included for the A380 fleet (including the cost of each of the 10 aircraft's temporary grounding).
The main problem was that the partly renewed head of AF was adamant that if A380's were to be retrofitted, the whole intercontinental 777 fleet equipped with first class would have to be retrofitted simultaneously or before.
And that wasn't the same pricetag at all...
Thank you for sharing.
AF never needed the 380 for it's network and finally admitted that mistake. To large for their network. They mostly bought it for political reasons. The 777-300ER and now the 350 are much better suited to their needs.
They bought it for the same reason as the concorde-national pride.
Not exactly : the problem was that they bought the wrong number of aircrafts. It was to many or too few but 10 wasn't enough for the number of their A380 destinations to make it profitable.
There was internal projections that showed it could have very well worked with just a handful more planes.
AF has a network that can perfectly handle and fill the A380, but they dispatched it very badly, in other terms they used it the wrong way.
On Tokyo for example, the fact they regularly had an A380 flight only 5 days a week instead of 7 limited the business occupancy. And in the meantime they were completely full in business on the 777 and refusing clients...
So it's really a shame and a huge waste, they could have made it work but they ruined it...
@UCMfsktwa67b_eJ7un4bx63A In high density ? Gosh no !
AF only uses high density 777-300's on its COI network (Caribbean Indian Ocean > overseas departments and territories) which is considered overseas domestic to sum it up.
Paris has well enough premium demand and the A380 was very well suited for their network. They simply used it wrong, very wrong, just like several unions desperately and repeatedly screamed it at the management but they didn't listen.
There even are unions that are still criticizing the management for wasting the potential of the aircraft and wasting the value of these aircrafts.
And yes, companies can loose money by not having enough seats : when there's not enough seats on the return flights because the return is operated on 777 instead of A380 for example...
Some incomprehensible decisions were made, like reducing the number of weekly flights on a destination that had profitable occupancy all week to dispatch 2 flights a week on another... 🤯
To this day a part of the crew and management is still wondering why.
AF consistently missed opportunities with not enough capacity on high paying segments.
By the way, AF's FF / credit card bonuses give very little access to business and first, it's completely different from US companies that give business seats to people who almost never fly but use the company card a lot.
So no, you won't see many reward tickets seated in AF's front classes, much less than other major companies. Credit card miles aren't status miles on AF.
AF missed huge opportunities every week, on several A380 destinations and neither pilots nor commercial crews understood why the management literally killed the potential of the model.
Instead of using them all the week on fewer destinations (which would have left a couple aircrafts unused) or buying a few more to cover all A380 destinations they sprinkled the dozen aircrafts on too many destinations for only 3 to 5 flights a week on most destinations (except JFK which was usually 7/7).
Some parliament members are investigating the badly planned dispatch and subsequent waste as it was demonstrated that just 2 to 5 more aircrafts would have rendered the fleet profitable and sufficiently occupied.
And without resorting to lower fares either...
There was a complicated turnover at the upper levels of Air France's management and tensions that precluded the company from buying more A380's or simply upgrading the cabin product and rethinking the dispatch.
If BA and LH can make them work, so can AF.
Each of the big Euro 3 has a different network but comparable high yield destinations with enough demand at full fare.
Tokyo wasn't the exception, it was a similar issue on Joburg, LAX and Montreal... And a different one for JFK.
We'll see what happens with the parliamentary inquiry, things are currently more focused on the world situation but the fact that such a huge potential was wasted isn't really appreciated by a LOT of people !
777-300er does the job to be honest, it's more fuel efficient and has the largest capacity of any twinjet, if you need a cheap version of the A380, just use the 777-300ER, otherwise, get a 747-8, its cheaper and capacity is still close enough to the A380
@@bossfight6125 No other plane has the business capacity and overall volume capacity of the A380.
You can stuff close to 480 seats on the 777-300ER like Air France does with the high density cabin they use exclusively on their overseas territories sectors.
But they use a 296 (new 4 class) or 380 (3 class no first) seater 777-300ER on their intercontinental network which is far less than the 510 seats with 80+ business of the A380.
No other aircraft has the room the 510 seats of the AF A380 offer.
Also you can't put as much business without almost completely wiping the economy class.
I saw some of them when I flew to Lourdes France. Sad to see those planes getting scrapped early. I rode in one when going to the Philippines via Asiana airlines. Such a quiet and comfortable plane
The charities that go to 3rd world countries could convert one of the A380's to have room for multiple operating rooms and basic diagnostics. It would have the space.
While seemingly a good idea, would 3rd world countries have the infrastructure to support these massive super jumbos?
@@commerce-usa The term '3rd world' refered to countries sided to Neither the US or Russia but its been badly misunderstood to mean 'poor countries' because neither of the previously mentioned countries seem to understand that other countries can be rich too
@@titan4110 yeah, okays. Think most people get what is being discussed. Poor nations that both need a flying hospital and tend to have little ability to spend the millions of dollars to upgrade an airport where 747s could already land, nevermind the cost of putting in a new facility for these aircraft. Do you feel better? 🙄
@@commerce-usa Yeah u didn't really understand what I said about the meaning of 3rd world. A country that actually needs a flying hospital barely has airports.
@@titan4110 Now I do. Simple works best and I agree.
The A380 is a phenomenal aircraft to be ever built by Airbus. It would be so amazing to see the 380(s) repainted and back in the skies with other carriers! (potential) Let’s hope so. 🤞🤞
What's the background music for this video? I love it's so calming
F-HBJB was not dissasmbled in Northern Ireland but rather at Knock Airport (NOC) in the Irish Republic
I flew F-HPJF from CDG to Atlanta honestly surprised how that route had a daily A380 flight most of the seats were empty but at the same time I’m glad I had the opportunity to fly the A380
What do u guys know about this Dr. Peters groups. They sound interesting
I think less some of Air France A380s will be scrapped pretty soon and for most of you still don't know, the pandemic has retired 19 A380s with Lufthansa A380s are prematurely retired but not confirm except 6 LH A380s are already retired.
Man, it seems like only a decade or so ago this plane was launched, and everyone was so excited.
everyone only talk about the airline retiring their aircraft, no one ever talk about the lessor, who actually own the aircraft. how is the impact of this such uneventful situation for them? what if they can't find another lessee, for like example, their A380's? since this is a very expensive aircraft with only less than 15 years of lease, do they still profit from the A380? come on simple flying, you can tell us about it :)
You guys should do a video to what happened to America airlines former A-330 or Delta Airlines former 777 fleet. I'm curious what will/has happened to them.
Given the lack of a second-hand market for the A380 they are all practically guaranteed to be junked which is unfortunate.
The most silent passenger aircraft ever. The only problem is actually its size. Boarding and getting off the airplane can be a pain in the a.. when you know you need to catch another airplane from the same or a different terminal.
👍🏼 as always
How about a a380 engine test bed?
i'am sure that we will see the A380 Soon but under other version.
I'am working on a new version of A380 Hybride ,using 2 Propulsion System.
That can be a new Start for the A380.
Narrator "Ageing fleet of jets" - later "Making them very young" :/
The Air France A380s were the worst business class flights I have had on A380s. Regularly flew on Qantas, Singapore and Emirates between the U.K., Singapore, Middle East and Australia.
On 777s it's even worse since the aircraft is far from being as comfortable and roomy as any 380.
British Airways should bag a few bargains from Air France (who had a very bland interior) and increase its fleet. It is a true hub and spoke airline and point to point won't last forever in our new "must be sustainable" world.
Agree!
Unlikely as BA & AF selected different engine options.
@@sytrxrainz3769 I hadn't considered that. Maybe Lufthansa or Malaysian?
Instead of dismantling them can’t they resell them or even turn them to a freight service? Since most port and sea freight are already backed and full capacity.
Who wants them? Too big. Too expensive to operate.
Us bangla airlines a321xlr update news please 🙏🙏🙏😭😭😭.
I hope some other airline picks them up
Very sad , such a beautiful machine
I hope so
so sad because airfrance aircraft fly over me everyday ad it's my favorite aircraft
I love it as do a lot of other passengers.
Cool
0:04 these two shots are not an a380 but a Boeing 787...
A real tragedy what is happening to this sumper jumbo aircraft around the world.
What about Lufthansa’s A380s?
Sadly, most of them will likely head for the scrapyard. Air France will likely more emphasize the use of the A350-900 and will likely buy the A350-1000 to slowly replace the 777-300ER.
Too bad. The A380 is superb machine.
British airways returning a380 into service between london and frankfurt on domestic flight
Also between London and Madrid lately.
Wanna know more about DS Aviation....🛫🤓
Its operators see it as a lost cause. What a disparity between passengers who go out of their way to calculate how to fly in one while the airlines send it to the boneyards around the world.
Didn’t even know that the air France A380 was dissasambled in my country NI. 😮😮
That is actually wrong they were dissasmbled in Knock airport in the Republic of Ireland
At least this time that Air France takes out perfectly serviceable aircraft, British Airways can still carry on flying their’s !
2:54 hang on. Didn’t emirates already retire some of their older a380s? What’s up with that 🤔
No, they retired only one. All the othesr fly everywhere, just like Lufthansa does with its 747s.
@@julosx but i've seen images of an ex-emirates A380 in all white, as well as one in emirates paint scheme being scrapped
Air Framce were going to get rid of 5 of their A380s even if the pandemic never happened. But I wouldn’t rule out Air France returning those remaining 4 to the CDG-JFK and/or CDG-LAX, CDG-IAD or CDG-ATL/MIA route, which they used the A380 before.
Like a big old American Cadillac: impressive, quiet, comfortable and huge. But, oh so impractical as a daily driver
I doubt it. Airlines are evolving due to fuel costs and the pandemic post era. But we'll see🙂🙂.
I just don't understand why Air France is yet to choose the Boeing 777X to replace A380. The 777X can fit into Air France's route network like JFK and LAX.
Airfrance is going to regret this decision
I don't want to talk about it...
Why can't they just give lease or partner up with emirates?
Because emirates is the only airline who is using their a380 extensively
I missed this aircraft! Most likely It will comeback after the epidemic 😷 is over.
maybe some of the a380s could go to British Airways or Emirates
A380 Its a Huge Iconic Airplane made by Airbus..But a verry BIG🙂.ending for some Airlines...😑....
Providing the best consumer experience/comfort, I _Hope these will be saved and go back in operation with whatever airline, but I _Think they will be scrapped. Too bad. Shame.
Optimistic me thought that British Airways would buy them off AirFrance
Long live the Boeing 747!
Why didn’t they just sell it to an airline like Emirates (the largest A380 operator) 🤷♂️
We'll see but Emirates use a different kind of engines for their A380's.
But the A380S are bourght by Emirates British Airways Singapore Airlines Qatar Airways Eithad Airlines Malaysia Airlines & Turkish Airlines.
I'm continually shocked by the number of people saying "AIRCRAFTS".
There is NO "S" in the word. The plural of aircraft is aircraft.
This is grade school grammar people. It's not hard.
I want a A380 freighter
I think in today's environment, the use as an A380 freighter makes sense... Let us wait and see,
most will be parted or scrapped. almost none will fly again!
I Feel Sád Foř Thêm 😢😢
haahhahahahah omg the stuggle was real to say : Tarbes and Lourdes ..
Malaysia, Thai, and Etihad airways retirement coming up
Not Malaysia, they are back in the sky these days.
🤔
sad
I’m a Boeing fan, but I see this as a loss for the world
Should do a video of what happened to all Malaysian airlines 777
air France a380 SUKS
Airbus
A380F
United or Delta should buy them at discount. Use them for transcontinental flights from hub to hub.
No USA airlines flies them! Smart on their part!
Flying casinos maybe???
noice
My girlfriend is like an A380, too big, costly to maintain and needs to be retired
🤣 BAHAHAHAAH!! 🤣 💥💨
I hate air france for it 😢
The A380 project was born dead. They were a succession of errors in market analysis and from an economic point of view. It turns out that now the lessors and the airlines have a cod spine across the throat and there's no way to swallow the four engines and hours of expensive maintenance. The only alternative for lessors would be to transform into a Only class of passengers and use these aircraft not Ramadan or on pilgrimage to Makah, thousands of dollars paid for Saudi Arabia is a humble opinion. I think the project A380 a shot of mercy in the foot the only company that could keep this consciously delusional is Emirates with its petrodollars. we are no longer in heavy seasons, but in the era of a single aisle
So true, I agree 100%!
Biggest issue of 2021 nobody cares I hate the A380 and no actually cares but when the 747 is retired everyone is sad that's because it's iconic and the a380 is not
You never flew in any so you should shut up.
Why does simple flying have such a hard on for the a380. It’s time has gone let it die
Say that to Emirates, you tool.