Originally there were 14 examples of the world’s largest passenger jet, the A380, in the Lufthansa fleet. However, the airline is already returning six machines before Corona, the rest as a result of the pandemic. Some decommissioned wide-bodied aircraft will soon celebrate a comeback due to high ticket demand.
Due to the high demand for tickets, Lufthansa will put the decommissioned Airbus A380 wide-body aircraft back into service in the summer of 2023. The airline is still checking how many of its currently 14 available machines should take off again, Lufthansa said.
The popular long-haul aircraft has been on the ground at Lufthansa at locations in Spain and France since the Corona crisis. Six of the 14 A380s have already been sold, eight will remain part of the fleet until further notice. In addition to the high demand for flights, the reason for the reactivation of the two-story aircraft is also delivery problems with newly ordered long-haul aircraft from Boeing.
As recently as April, Lufthansa boss Carsten Spohr no longer confirmed the future of the A380 in the group. “She won’t come back to Lufthansa,” he told Der Spiegel. In May, he did not completely rule out reactivating some of the eight remaining machines in the series – but only if demand unexpectedly recovered.
Lufthansa had already decided to sell some of the jumbos before the Corona crisis, as they are considered unprofitable with their four engines and high kerosene consumption. During the Corona crisis, the airline decided not to operate the A380 fleet at all.
Despite the ongoing uncertainty caused by the corona pandemic, international aviation is looking to the future with optimism: the number of passengers this year will again reach 83 percent of the level before the crisis, according to the forecast by the aviation association IATA, which recently met in Doha, Qatar for the annual conference. The airlines’ losses this year are likely to amount to 9.7 billion dollars (9.2 billion euros). However, this is a “huge improvement” compared to the two previous years, which were strongly influenced by the corona pandemic and the associated restrictions, the association explained.
Losses in 2020 were $137.7 billion, compared to $42.1 billion in 2021. According to the IATA, following the renewed increase in passenger numbers this year, the goal of returning to profitability should come “within reach” again next year.
The meeting in Doha lasts until Tuesday. The general assembly was originally supposed to take place in Shanghai, but due to the Chinese government’s strict anti-corona policy, the participants had to change their plans.
