- Several airlines ditched the Airbus A380 during the pandemic.
- But it’s still soaring high, led by Emirates’ fleet of 118 superjumbos.
- Business Insider compiled a list of every airline operating the A380 and their November routes.
Airbus took decades to develop the A380 — a project announced in 1990 to compete with the Boeing 747. When the airliner first entered service with Singapore Airlines in 2007, it became the world’s largest passenger jet.
But the high operational costs of the four-engine jet prompted carriers including Air France, Thai Airways, and Malaysia Airlines to ditch the A380 during or after the pandemic.
Now, airlines seem to be falling back in love with the superjumbo.
Lufthansa retired all 14 of its A380s during the pandemic but has brought back eight of them since 2022. Etihad has reactivated six jets, and is launching new routes to Paris and Singapore.
Meanwhile, Australia’s Qantas has announced plans to resume A380 flights between Sydney and Dallas from August 2025, for the first time since before the pandemic.
Global Airlines, a British startup, has already acquired one A380 formerly owned by China Southern as part of its plan to fly between London Gatwick and New York’s JFK airport.
Based on fleet data from Ch-aviation and route data from Cirium, Business Insider has compiled a list of every airline operating the A380 and the routes they’re planning to fly in November — the start of the 2024-25 winter schedule.
