THE END OF THE A380? Qantas says goodbye to the superjumbo

The world's biggest passenger jet has survived Covid, production delays and predictions of its demise — but Qantas is now bringing the curtain down on its A380 fleet

The Airbus A380 was supposed to change flying forever.

The enormous double-decker became the ultimate symbol of modern aviation: two full passenger decks, vast cabins, lounges, more space and a level of stability and comfort that turned even a long-haul flight into something of an experience.

Now one of its biggest admirers is preparing to say goodbye.

Qantas has announced that it will begin retiring its fleet of 10 A380s from 2028 — four years earlier than originally planned — citing rising maintenance and fuel costs and growing concerns over the availability of parts for an aircraft that has not been built since 2021.

For fans of the superjumbo, it is another painful reminder that the age of the giant passenger jet may finally be coming to an end.

FROM AVIATION STAR TO ENDANGERED SPECIES

At its peak, more than 230 A380s were flying around the world.

Today, according to aviation data firm Cirium, only around 171 remain in service.

Airbus ended A380 production in 2021 after new orders effectively dried up. Airlines discovered that smaller, newer twin-engine aircraft could fly long distances with far greater fuel efficiency and could serve more destinations without requiring enormous passenger loads.

Then came Covid.

With international aviation virtually shut down, airlines including Air France and Thai Airways retired their A380 fleets altogether. For a while, it appeared the superjumbo might never return.

But it did.

As global travel recovered — and delays hit the production of newer aircraft from both Airbus and Boeing — airlines brought many of their grounded A380s back into service.

And passengers loved them.

WHY PEOPLE STILL LOVE THE A380

There is something different about travelling on an A380.

It is not simply the size. The aircraft feels unusually quiet and stable in the air, while the two-deck configuration gives passengers a feeling of space rarely found on modern commercial jets.

For those lucky enough to fly upstairs, there is also the novelty of sitting on what feels like an entirely separate aircraft.

And then there is the spectacle.

Few aircraft have ever produced the same reaction from passengers and planespotters alike as an A380 lumbering into the sky. Watching something so enormous actually fly remains one of aviation's great sights.

Qantas itself has had a long relationship with the aircraft.

But even the airline's affection cannot overcome the basic problem: the A380 is an ageing aircraft and its production line is gone.

Qantas International and Freight CEO Cam Wallace recently warned that supply-chain problems were already appearing and could become more serious as the remaining aircraft age.

NOT DEAD — JUST BECOMING RARE

The A380 is therefore not disappearing overnight.

Some of the aircraft will continue flying for years, particularly with airlines that have built their long-haul business around them.

But the numbers are steadily shrinking.

The irony is that the A380 may eventually become more famous after its commercial heyday than it ever was during it.

The aircraft that was once supposed to represent the future of aviation could instead become one of its great icons — remembered by passengers as the giant that briefly ruled the skies.

For aviation fans, that makes every remaining A380 flight just a little more special.

The superjumbo may not be dead yet. But Qantas' decision suggests its final chapter is getting closer.

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The A380 is pretty nice, but is all about whether it can make money or not.

Sad to see Qantas saying goodbye to the great A380.

I had the extreme pleasure of flying First Class on an Emirates A380 — and what an experience! Hot showers at 35,000 feet 🚿😂, not to mention some of the best food and champagne I’ve ever seen. 🥂

It really showed just how special these magnificent aircraft could be. The A380 wasn’t just a way of getting from A to B — it was an experience.

Sad to see the Qantas ones heading towards the history books, even if thankfully there are still plenty of A380s flying with other airlines.

1 minute ago, Nemises said:

Sad to see Qantas saying goodbye to the great A380.

I had the extreme pleasure of flying First Class on an Emirates A380 — and what an experience! Hot showers at 35,000 feet 🚿😂, not to mention some of the best food and champagne I’ve ever seen. 🥂

It really showed just how special these magnificent aircraft could be. The A380 wasn’t just a way of getting from A to B — it was an experience.

Sad to see the Qantas ones heading towards the history books, even if thankfully there are still plenty of A380s flying with other airlines.

And the Emirates lounges in Dubai are the bomb.

I never flew Emirates first, but I flew Emirates business BKK to DXB monthly and BKK-DXB-LAX twice a year for a few years.

15 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

And the Emirates lounges in Dubai are the bomb.

I had to google the expression "are the bomb" to find that contrary to my first thoughts you are praising them, and as such I totally agree with you!

3 minutes ago, scottiejohn said:

I had to google the expression "are the bomb" to find that contrary to my first thoughts you are praising them, and as such I totally agree with you!

I bet I can eat a pound of those dates in a two-hour layover...

5 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

I bet I can eat a pound of those dates in a two-hour layover...

I'll bet a kilo! 🥘

It has a bar in business - what's not to like 🍻

31 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

And the Emirates lounges in Dubai are the bomb.

I never flew Emirates first, but I flew Emirates business BKK to DXB monthly and BKK-DXB-LAX twice a year for a few years.

I’ve been lucky enough to experience the Emirates First Class Lounge in Dubai, and it really has to be seen to be believed.

I came across this summary on the net and thought it was worth sharing:

✈️ THE EMIRATES FIRST CLASS LOUNGE — DUBAI

Forget calling this an airport lounge… this thing is basically an airport within an airport! 😂

The Emirates First Class Lounge in Dubai’s Concourse A is approximately 12,428 m² (134,000 sq ft) and stretches around 645 metres — more than half a kilometre!

That’s roughly seven Australian football fields end-to-end just to get from one end to the other. 😂

And what do you get inside?

🍾 Champagne and premium wines

🍽️ À la carte fine dining

🍷 A luxury wine boutique

💆 A full spa with 15 treatment rooms

🚿 Shower facilities

🚬 Cigar lounge

🛍️ Duty-free shopping

🛏️ Quiet areas and daybeds

💼 Business centre and conference facilities

👶 Children’s play area

But here’s the absolute cracker…

✈️ You can board your A380 directly from the First Class lounge.

No leaving the lounge, no wandering through the terminal with everyone else — you basically go from champagne to your aircraft without breaking stride. 😂🥂

And the building itself was designed specifically around the A380, with 20 A380-capable gates.

Construction of Concourse A reportedly cost around AED 12 billion (US$3.27 billion).

When it opened, Emirates described the First and Business Class lounges as among the world’s largest airport lounges.

This isn’t flying…

This is what happens when an airline gets completely carried away with First Class. 😂🍾✈️

Edited 17 hours ago17 hr by Nemises

2 minutes ago, Nemises said:

I’ve been lucky enough to experience the Emirates First Class Lounge in Dubai, and it really has to be seen to be believed. It’s less a lounge and more an airport within an airport!

I came across this summary on the net and thought it was worth sharing:

✈️ THE EMIRATES FIRST CLASS LOUNGE — DUBAI

Forget calling this an airport lounge… this thing is basically an airport within an airport! 😂

The Emirates First Class Lounge in Dubai’s Concourse A is approximately 12,428 m² (134,000 sq ft) and stretches around 645 metres — more than half a kilometre!

That’s roughly seven Australian football fields end-to-end just to get from one end to the other. 😂

And what do you get inside?

🍾 Champagne and premium wines

🍽️ À la carte fine dining

🍷 A luxury wine boutique

💆 A full spa with 15 treatment rooms

🚿 Shower facilities

🚬 Cigar lounge

🛍️ Duty-free shopping

🛏️ Quiet areas and daybeds

💼 Business centre and conference facilities

👶 Children’s play area

But here’s the absolute cracker…

✈️ You can board your A380 directly from the First Class lounge.

No leaving the lounge, no wandering through the terminal with everyone else — you basically go from champagne to your aircraft without breaking stride. 😂🥂

And the building itself was designed specifically around the A380, with 20 A380-capable gates.

Construction of Concourse A reportedly cost around AED 12 billion (US$3.27 billion).

When it opened, Emirates described the First and Business Class lounges as among the world’s largest airport lounges.

This isn’t flying…

This is what happens when an airline gets completely carried away with First Class. 😂🍾✈️

Yeah, you can board from the business class lounge as well.

I remember before the new airport was built in Bangkok, the Thai business lounge(s) at Don Mueang had free Thai massage.

3 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

Yeah, you can board from the business class lounge as well.

I have to admit, boarding First Class directly from the lounge was pretty bloody cool — especially when there are only a handful of passengers in the cabin. You could just casually toddle down the air bridge in complete peace and quiet, without another passenger in sight. 😂

A slightly different experience from the usual budget-airline boarding sh*t fight! 🤣✈️

Always fly Emirates and try to choose flights with the A380......I hope they keep theirs.

The A380 is a fantastic plane. A good reason for flying Emirates from BKK to London.

2 hours ago, WIAA Alfie said:

Always fly Emirates and try to choose flights with the A380......I hope they keep theirs.

Emirates remain committed to the A380, the airport and business model is built around the plane, they operate 118 of them. They've been buying retired A380s from other operators to dismantle them for spares.

https://simpleflying.com/why-retired-airbus-a380s-worth-more-dead-alive-emirates/

1 minute ago, Stocky said:

Emirates remain committed to the A380, the airport and business model is built around the plane, they operate 118 of them. They've been buying retired A380s from other operators to dismantle them for spares.

https://simpleflying.com/why-retired-airbus-a380s-worth-more-dead-alive-emirates/

And they do not have to turn a profit, another thing that makes them great!

17 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

And they do not have to turn a profit, another thing that makes them great!

Ah, some yellowtail US propaganda nonsense. What thread would be complete without it.

You would have some evidence for your claim?

7 minutes ago, josephbloggs said:

Ah, some yellowtail US propaganda nonsense. What thread would be complete without it.

You would have some evidence for your claim?

I apologize, apparently, they are owned by the government, and they are the most profitable commecial airline in the world, my mistake.

It's a beautiful piece of engineering , Emirates made it special, it's my favourite aircraft to fly on by far (followed by A350, I don't want to die on a Boeing). Business with the bar is incredible, I have done first twice and that is a once (or twice) in a lifetime experience. Emirates had the vision, they nailed it, it is a tragedy that this ground breaking aircraft will eventually not fly again. It's the best thing in the sky.

Sir Tim Clarke says it best. Emirates saw the potential, they went all in. Air France, BA, Qantas, Singapore, just offered more of the same and only dipped their toes in, no one innovated and they didn't think of the economies of scale. Sir Tim is the greatest aviation leader of our time. I take his word over Yellowtails.

This is speaking about Air France but is applicable to others. He nails it.

https://liveandletsfly.com/why-air-france-a380-failed/

"The A380 was a misfit for Air France. They never scaled, they only have ten aircraft. Yes, we faced the same teething problems, but we dealt with them because we were scaled enough to deal with it. If you’ve got a sub fleet of 10 it’s a bloody nightmare and the costs go through the roof, she is absolutely right. But if you got a hundred of them it’s a bit different. Your unit costs in operating with that number are a lot lower than having just ten.

Secondly, look at their interior. What did they actually do to shock and awe their market community with that A380 when it came to market? Why was it that it was Emirates, who took it after Singapore Airlines, that it lit up the planet in terms of showers and bars and big TV screens? We did it for a very well calculated reason. Not to blow our trumpet. But simply we had taken a huge risk and huge investment.

To belittle that investment by putting in a Business Class seat of 1990s-think and a First Class of 1980s-think and Economy Class seating and IFE of 1990s-think was not something we would have done, like Air France. The whole approach to the A380 at Air France and Lufthansa was ‘just more of the same.’ They lost the opportunity to really define it.

They never ordered any more. British Airways didn’t order any more. BA should have had the same number of A380s as we have, hundred of those. They got 62 million people in the UK and a congested Heathrow hub, that should have worked easily."

And for Yellowtail's ridiculous propaganda, can he not see it is head and shoulders above what any American airline offers? It is a success because their service and product is excellent. American airlines are third world in comparison. @Yellowtail

(Probably he only flies on US airlines)

1 minute ago, Yellowtail said:

I apologize, apparently, they are owned by the government, and they are the most profitable commecial airline in the world, my mistake.

Some evidence for your claim they don't need to turn a profit?

"And they do not have to turn a profit, another thing that makes them great!"

1 minute ago, josephbloggs said:

It's a beautiful piece of engineering , Emirates made it special, it's my favourite aircraft to fly on by far (followed by A350, I don't want to die on a Boeing). Business with the bar is incredible, I have done first twice and that is a once (or twice) in a lifetime experience. Emirates had the vision, they nailed it, it is a tragedy that this ground breaking aircraft will eventually not fly again. It's the best thing in the sky.

Sir Tim Clarke says it best. Emirates saw the potential, they went all in. Air France, BA, Qantas, Singapore, just offered more of the same and only dipped their toes in, no one innovated and they didn't think of the economies of scale. Sir Tim is the greatest aviation leader of our time. I take his word over Yellowtails.
ther
This is speaking about Air France but is applicable to others. He nails it.

https://liveandletsfly.com/why-air-france-a380-failed/

"The A380 was a misfit for Air France. They never scaled, they only have ten aircraft. Yes, we faced the same teething problems, but we dealt with them because we were scaled enough to deal with it. If you’ve got a sub fleet of 10 it’s a bloody nightmare and the costs go through the roof, she is absolutely right. But if you got a hundred of them it’s a bit different. Your unit costs in operating with that number are a lot lower than having just ten.

Secondly, look at their interior. What did they actually do to shock and awe their market community with that A380 when it came to market? Why was it that it was Emirates, who took it after Singapore Airlines, that it lit up the planet in terms of showers and bars and big TV screens? We did it for a very well calculated reason. Not to blow our trumpet. But simply we had taken a huge risk and huge investment.

To belittle that investment by putting in a Business Class seat of 1990s-think and a First Class of 1980s-think and Economy Class seating and IFE of 1990s-think was not something we would have done, like Air France. The whole approach to the A380 at Air France and Lufthansa was ‘just more of the same.’ They lost the opportunity to really define it.

They never ordered any more. British Airways didn’t order any more. BA should have had the same number of A380s as we have, hundred of those. They got 62 million people in the UK and a congested Heathrow hub, that should have worked easily."

And for Yellowtail's ridiculous propaganda, can he not see it is head and shoulders above what any American airline offers? It is a success because their service and product is excellent. American airlines are third world in comparison. @Yellowtail

(Probably he only flies on US airlines)

Had you bothered reading the thread, you would know that I flew Emirates business BKK to DXB monthly and BKK-DXB-LAX twice a year for a few years, and it is a wonderful airline, with the best lounges in the business as far as I know.

Since I retired, I've been flying EVA.

3 minutes ago, josephbloggs said:

Some evidence for your claim they don't need to turn a profit?

"And they do not have to turn a profit, another thing that makes them great!"

Did I not just retract my claim?

The 4 remaining Thai A380s are still sat rotting at Suvarnabhumi. They were up for sale a few years back, but it looks like the sale fell though. I don't think these aircraft have turned a wheel since 2020. A 5th one became a cafe, and the 6th, the youngest of the fleet, cut up for parts. I thought it might have been Global Airlines that was going to buy them, but it looks like they have a single ex-China Southern A380. I last flew on a Thai A380 in November 2019, and I recall 4 of us being in the rear economy cabin. The writing was on the wall then.

10 hours ago, Nemises said:

But here’s the absolute cracker…

✈️ You can board your A380 directly from the First Class lounge.

It is also available flying business,board your flight from the business lounge

Edited 7 hours ago7 hr by SAFETY FIRST

Goodbye.

I could not care less.

100 years ago, we did not need such things.

Get rid of it.

Sell it for scrap.

I once flew on an A380. I connected through Incheon to experience it before it was retired.

12 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

It's a beautiful piece of engineering , Emirates made it special, it's my favourite aircraft to fly on by far (followed by A350, I don't want to die on a Boeing).

Why would you die on a Boeing? While there are no onboard bars or showers, there are still some impressive first and business class cabins on 777 and 787 aircraft.

2 minutes ago, Oliver Holzerfilled said:

Why would you die on a Boeing? While there are no onboard bars or showers, there are still some impressive first and business class cabins on 777 and 787 aircraft.

The 747 had bars 50 years ago.

There are still 747s in service from the '70s

4 hours ago, Mr Awesome said:

I once flew on an A380. I connected through Incheon to experience it before it was retired.

So, what did it feel like?

If you want to know what flight feels like, then just hop in a Gee Bee.