China Southern Gives Up The A380

About 12 years after receiving its first superjumbo aircraft, China Southern has decommissioned its last A380.

The airline’s peak saw them using their five A380s on domestic and international flights to places like Los Angeles, Sydney, and Amsterdam.

The carrier has steadily been disposing of its A380 fleet, with the final superjumbo revenue flight believed to have taken place in November 2022, even though two A380s remained on China Southern’s books.

However, the airline’s half-year financial report, released this week, indicates that the last two A380s have already left the carrier’s fleet, as reported by flightglobal.com.

Two more of Lufthansa’s A380 superjumbos will be put back into service, the airline said this week.

After hitting rock bottom during COVID-19 when nearly every carrier grounded their A380 fleets, the superjumbo has been riding high over the past few months.

In July, Etihad put one of its four A380s back into service, and only last month, Qantas said it would restart service for the last of its ten superjumbos.

Even used A380s are finding new homes; new transatlantic airline Global Airlines bought four.

So, is the A380 genuinely dead, or is there a thriving love affair, given that pent-up demand is likely to be well above pre-pandemic levels?