Instead, Global will focus on a three-class cabin with regular economy, business and first class. ![]() “As someone who is primarily a passenger before being a manager of an airline, I want a better product across the Atlantic and that’s why we’re doing what we’re doing.” “I’ve never personally been an advocate of the premium economies of the world for many reasons - the economics of it work fantastically well for airlines, but not very well for passengers,” Asquith says. It’s more what you can offer on the product.”īut Global isn’t taking too many cues from Emirates for example, it won’t offer a premium economy class, which the Middle Eastern carrier has recently added to over 60 of its existing A380s. “They’ve known how to use the aircraft phenomenally. “A lot of people have written about whether the A380 has got another life, but the reality is that the only life it had in the first place was with Emirates,” says Asquith. UAE flag carrier Emirates is the only airline that has managed to make the plane flourish, and is by far the largest operator, having ordered nearly half of all the A380s ever built. Starting an airline is a challenging business proposition and doing it with an A380 fleet even more so, as the aircraft’s economics have proved to be less than ideal for many of its operators.Īir France was the first airline to retire its entire fleet, in May 2020, and 17 A380s have already been scrapped (formerly with Singapore, Qantas, Emirates and Air France itself). That’s still quite a bargain compared to the A380’s list price of $450 million, for a brand new aircraft, in 2018. Global and Doric are not disclosing the sale price beyond the fact that it’s “eight figures.”Īccording to Rob Morris, head of consultancy at aviation analytics firm Cirium, the value of the plane is linked to its maintenance condition, and can be as little as $10 million, if every component is fully run-out, and as much as $40 million, if the aircraft is in perfect shape.Įither way, Global will have to spend more money to refurbish the plane, which has already been painted in its new livery, and make it fit for passenger service, meaning the final price tag could easily run in the $50 million range, Morris argues. ![]() “And we’re not just looking at the cabin or the interiors for that, but also the maintenance side of things, how new is the landing gear, and most importantly, the engines.” “Not all A380s are the same,” says Asquith when asked why he picked this particular A380 among those that were up for sale. Here’s how to get your hands on a piece of an Airbus A380 Global Airlines is the first new airline to operate the A380 since All Nippon Airways in 2019, and the first ever to do so with a used aircraft. Its second-hand market is almost non-existent and used A380s have always struggled to find buyers. The first one was scrapped in 2019, just 12 years after the first commercial flight. Since then, the aircraft had been waiting for a buyer at two French airports, in Toulouse and Lourdes, which have specially designed areas for long-term storage.Īirbus built 251 A380s – far fewer than the 750 it originally hoped to make – and retirement has certainly started early for this model compared to what’s typical for a widebody aircraft – around 20 to 25 years. However, in late 2020, the Portuguese company ended the lease and returned the A380 to Doric. In mid-2020 Hi Fly partially converted it to cargo, hoping to benefit from the peak in demand for air freight brought on by the pandemic. The plane then flew with a handful of airlines, including Norwegian, Madagascan Airlines and Air Senegal. It was then marketed as the only A380 in the world available for charter. After 10 years of service, Singapore ended its lease agreement with the aircraft owner, German aircraft trading company Doric, which then leased it to Portuguese charter operation Hi Fly. The purchased A380 was among the earliest ever made and was originally delivered to Singapore Airlines in 2008. Emirates has the world's largest fleet of A380s.
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