La decision toEmirates had dealt a fatal blow to theAirbus A380 which will officially come to an end with the delivery of the last dozen aircraft of this type to the Dubai-based airline. At Air Franceeven though it is one of the historic carriers of the A380, with the first aircraft delivered in 2009the first signs of disenchantment with the giant of the skies date back to 2016. At the time, the company announced that it would forego the delivery of two additional Airbus A380s in favour of the new Airbus A350. Then, in November 2018, the company's new CEO Benjamin Smith also announced its intention to reduce the current fleet of ten A380s in service to just five aircraft. Five of these aircraft are in fact leased and will be returned to their owners.
At the same time, Benjamin Smith indicated that Air France was going to keep some of its Airbus A380s. The airline owns five of these aircraft, and leasing or even selling them to a third party carrier is proving difficult. Thai Airways and Malaysia Airlines in Asia know all about this, as both carriers are unable to sell their A380s on the second-hand market, despite their efforts over several years to get rid of their aircraft.
The A380 is in fact not very popular with Benjamin Smith, who prefers smaller aircraft with more space. flexibility for their insertion on secondary routes and for their cabin configuration. The current CEO is also said to be frustrated by the growing number of incidents involving Airbus A380s in recent times.
However, the giant of the skies remains popular with passengers, who love the space offered on board. And it remains ideal for serving certain high-potential long-haul routes, where time slots are hard to come by. This is the case for Shanghai and Johannesburg, for example, New York or Los Angeles. These aircraft, which cost over 400 million dollars each, will only pay for themselves in the long term. They should therefore be flying until 2023/2024. By then, they will be fifteen years old and ready for retirement.
On the other hand, a renovation of the A380's cabins will then no longer be topical for the Airbus A380s with this prospect of retirement. It is likely that the business seat could be modernised - so as not to devalue the Air France product - without necessarily going through a complete cabin overhaul.
However, Air France's communications department has not confirmed that the aircraft will be withdrawn by 2023/2024, even though several media outlets have mentioned this. An announcement should probably be made at the end of July with the publication of the first-half results. We should also learn at that time what future aircraft the airline has decided to order. Air France is leaning towards the Airbus A220 or A320 neo, while on the long-haul side it is now eyeing the Boeing B787, the A330 neo, and possibly the Airbus A350-1000. It could negotiate an agreement with Airbus similar to the one reached by Lufthansa in March. At that time, the German airline ordered 20 additional A350-900s and in return sold six A380s to the European aircraft manufacturer.
