FRANKFURT: Lufthansa has thrown further doubt on the Airbus A380s return, with CEO Carsten Spohr saying it is evident that the aircraft won’t return to service. The airline has already sent the majority of its A380 fleet to long-term storage, with a single example remaining in Frankfurt, just in case.
This week was one of the best for positive Airbus A380 news in a long time. Two days ago, Lufthansa Technik revealed that it had signed a five-year maintenance deal for British Airways’ fleet of 12 jets, signaling that these will likely remain in the skies. Now Lufthansa Technik’s owner is giving bad news about its own A380 fleet.
Pouring further water on the flame that is the Lufthansa Airbus A380, the airline’s CEO Carsten Spohr recently made it clear that the aircraft type is dead as far as he is concerned. Speaking during a Q&A after the airline’s Q2 results call, Spohr remarked.
“On the fleet, we’ll be taking away nine sub fleets over the next years. If you would rather confine that to long-range only, the [A] 380 will obviously not come back. The [A340-600] will only be brought back for two years to make sure we have enough capacity in Munich including the premium cabins until that is replaced by [A] 350s.”
Lufthansa has positioned itself so that retiring the Airbus A380s wouldn’t take much effort on its part. 13 of its 14 aircraft are spread across two ‘aircraft nurserys’ operated by Tarmac Aerosave. These are Tarbes in France and Teruel in Spain. At least three Airbus A380s from other operators have already been scrapped in Tarbes, while Teruel can also scrap aircraft
