Out with the A380, in with the A321neo. Airbus announced its intention to convert its A380 Lagardère facility in Toulouse to a final assembly line for the spectacularly popular and well-selling A321neo. The transition is expected to occur by mid-2022.
A380
When good planes have to die: Scrapping an A380 and Lineage 1000E
Why scrap a perfectly good airplane? Whether an extremely large or reasonably small aircraft, the reasoning often is the same: Money. Images from the past couple weeks showing an A380 and Embraer Legacy 1000 headed to die raised questions and emotions about just how well the process works.
Air France to swap A380, A340 fleets for A350 with expanded order
Air France will add ten more A350-900 aircraft to its fleet in the coming years, supporting the retirement of its A380s and A340s. The deal will help the carrier to simplify its operations and deliver a more consistent passenger experience across its long-haul operations.
Qatar Airways picks Gogo for connectivity upgrade
Chalk up a big win for Gogo as it adds Qatar Airways to its roster of connected airlines.
Air France adds A220s, retires A380s
Air France will add sixty A220-300 aircraft to its fleet from September 2021. The planes will replace the carrier’s aging A318 and A319 aircraft. The carrier also announced plans to fully retire its fleet of ten A380s by 2022.
End of the (assembly) line for the A380
It is huge. It is (generally speaking) more comfortable for passengers. It is spectacularly quiet on board. And as of 2021 no more will be built. Airbus confirmed today that it will finally halt production of its A380 super jumbo in two years, once the final 17 frames are delivered. The move comes after reaching an agreement with Emirates to slash the carrier’s order backlog.
Digging in to Norwegian’s A380 mess
Let us assume, for a moment, that airlines are ridiculous but not outright stupid. That might be a stretch, but presumably they go in to any particular course of action with something resembling a plan. Which makes Norwegian’s use of the Hi Fly A380 this week incredibly baffling.
The first Hi Fly A380 lease customer is not who we expected
Reports out of Denmark this afternoon have a special addition to the Hi Fly A380 wet lease charter schedule. The first flight will operate on Wednesday for an unlikely customer. Thomas Cook Scandinavia reportedly chartered the aircraft for a one-off service from Copenhagen to Larnaca, Cyprus.
Hawaiian, JAL go all-in on joint venture application
Can a joint venture truly deliver passenger benefits in the form of better connections and reduced fares? The proposal from JAL and Hawaiian Airlines might be the best chance we’ve seen yet to deliver on such promises.
Emirates (finally) commits to Premium Economy
Passengers still must wait a couple years, but Emirates is finally set to introduce a premium economy cabin on its A380 fleet. Sir Tim Clark offers up a few details on the effort in a recent podcast episode.