Never have there been so many A380s aloft. Ever since the airline industry emerged from the pandemic crisis, the Airbus Superjumbo has been in top condition and has now found itself back in favor with airlines. For instance, Emirates will have 100 of its 116 A380 wide-body jets "back in operation this summer," said Cédric Renard, general director for France at the Gulf carrier. And Emirates is far from the only one. "All of the airlines with A380s are putting them back into service," said Renard. Like Singapore Airlines, the company that launched the A380 and whose 12 Superjumbos are all up in the air today. Or Lufthansa, which on Thursday, June 1, began flying its 14 aircraft again. But this will not be the case for Air France, which got rid of its nine A380s during the crisis.
Today, the wide-body jet seems ideally suited to deal with the influx of customers at airports. In the configuration chosen by Emirates, the A380 can carry 517 passengers on each flight, including 14 in first-class suites and 76 in business-class seats. This is slightly more than Lufthansa's Superjumbos, with cabins designed for 509 passengers. In keeping with its tradition of luxury, Singapore Airlines has limited the number of passengers on its A380s to 471.
Regardless of which flag it's flying under, the aircraft is close to full, leading Singapore airline, for instance, to report a "load factor of 87.5% in April." More modestly, Emirates has indicated that its aircraft occupancy lies well above 80%. "Traffic is back with strong growth," said Renard. On many of its routes, the Gulf carrier has ditched its Boeing 777s and replaced them with A380s. Destinations like Nice (southern France) and Bali (Indonesia) are now served by these Superjumbos. Emirates boasts "the highest load factors in air transport: over 80%," according to the CEO.
Emirates wants a successor to the A380
From the airlines' standpoint, the obsession with A380s won't be just a fad. Emirates has begun upgrading its cabins. The company, which lost $6 billion during the pandemic, but earned nearly $3 billion in its last fiscal year, which ended in March, has decided to "launch a $1.8 billion fleet modernization program," said Renard. Eight aircraft have already benefited from the upgrade. According to the general director, "50% of the fleet will be modernized within two years."
Emirates is so "thrilled with the A380" that it wants a successor. When the decision was made in 2019 to cease the A380 production due to a lack of customers, Emirates was the only one to ask Airbus for a re-engined version of the aircraft. In light of the recovery, the company has been reiterating its request of Airbus, pointing out that the aircraft could be the solution to increasingly congested airports. Forecasts by consulting firm AlixPartners suggest that long-haul traffic, despite being the last to recover, should return to its 2019 level by 2024, a year ahead of schedule.
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