In late March, Qatar Airways grounded its
A380 fleet. The airline joined many others
around the world in grounding its superjumbos,
leaving China Southern as the only airline
to maintain A380 services throughout the pandemic.
Since the aircraft were grounded, we’ve
heard small bits of information on what Qatar
Airways has in mind. Here’s what we know
so far.
In an internal memo shared by Paxex.aero in
March, Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker said
of his airline:
“[we must] further study the costs we incur
in our day-to-day business and to reduce or
postpone those that are not critical to the
airline.”
That’s precisely what Qatar Airways has
done throughout this pandemic. The airline
limited its schedules and reduced its active
fleet, parking larger aircraft like the A380.
Thus, the airline relied more on its smaller
long-haul jets, including the Boeing 787 and
Airbus A350.
At the end of June, we wrote about the airline
excluding its A380s from its future schedules.
According to analysis from Routesonline, it
was noted that Qatar Airways wouldn’t fly
the A380 until at least June 14th, 2021.
It was also noted that other smaller aircraft
would serve on routes traditionally belonging
to the A380. To Frankfurt, London, and Paris,
the Airbus A380 will be substituted by Boeing
777-300ER aircraft. In the other direction,
its Australian A380 routes such as Melbourne,
Perth, and Sydney, the Airbus A350-1000 will
be used. Besides the A380, these are Qatar’s
higher capacity aircraft.
It’s possible that the airline could permanently
retire some or all of its A380 fleet. Speaking
at a media briefing in May, al-Baker is quoted
by Executive Traveler as saying,
“Qatar Airways is parking its 10 A380s and
they will not return for at least a year,
and maybe never.”
If this were to happen, it wouldn’t be the
first action of its kind. Therefore it would
not be all that surprising. In fact, we’ve
already seen German carrier Lufthansa retire
some of its A380s while Air France has retired
its entire fleet.
Other airlines have retired their Boeing 747s
for the same reasons of over-capacity and
high maintenance and parking costs. Carriers
include British Airways and KLM.
Of course, as we’ve learned through the
absurdity of the past six months, anything
is possible. If conditions somehow miraculously
improve or a vaccine rolls out sooner than
expected, then it wouldn’t be unreasonable
to expect particular aircraft to come out
of storage early. After all, airlines would
be foolish to leave money on the table, especially
when it is so very crucial to recovery. Whether
or not this is ‘probable’ is a whole other
debate.
Another possibility is that the overall situation
goes in the other direction, with industry
recovery taking longer than expected. If the
airline fails to see the recovery it needs,
then its A380s may have already flown their
final flights.
Ultimately, it is a game of waiting and watching,
analyzing the data, and keeping track of bookings.
When the time is right, the airline will make
a decision one way or another.
In the meantime, we would imagine these A380s
are undergoing proper maintenance during their
long-term storage and hibernation. This will
include tire rotations and the occasional
engine and systems startups.
What do you think will happen to Qatar Airways’
A380 fleet? Let us know your thoughts in the
comments.
