New A380 Airline
Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2023 7:40 pm
The A380 was nearly extinct. Now a new airline says it’s building a superjumbo-only fleet
https://www.cnn.com/travel/a380-global- ... index.html
https://www.globalairlines.com/
The pandemic almost killed it and its production ended sooner than anticipated in 2021, but the A380 simply refuses to die.
With more and more superjumbos soaring back into the skies amid a post-pandemic resurgence in commercial aviation, the aircraft is back in the spotlight as one new airline is built around it.
Global Airlines, a British startup that aims to offer transatlantic flights starting next year, has acquired a 16-year-old A380 as the inaugural aircraft of an all-A380 fleet — at least initially — and is in the process of refurbishing the plane to its own specifications.
It’s a rare used-market move for an aircraft that passengers adore but that airlines have struggled to turn profitable due to its operating and maintenance cost, as well as its huge size.
“It’s a fantastic aircraft when you use it in the right way and on the right routes,” says Global Airlines CEO James Asquith. “We will be looking to invest significant amounts on refurbishing the A380 we already have and the future ones that we’re looking to bring into the fleet.”
Asquith previously founded Holiday Swap, a home-swapping travel platform which is also Global’s parent company, and he holds the Guinness world record for the youngest person to visit every country in the world.
“I’ve flown on about 280 different airlines and sat there seeing what’s good, what doesn’t work and what can be improved,” he says. “We’ve structured this in a way that financially allows us to do a lot of the exciting things that no new airline that isn’t government-funded has been able to do in the last 40 years.”
The purchased A380 was among the earliest ever made and was originally delivered to Singapore Airlines in 2008. 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. It was then marketed as the only A380 in the world available for charter.
The plane then flew with a handful of airlines, including Norwegian, Madagascan Airlines and Air Senegal. 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. However, in late 2020, the Portuguese company ended the lease and returned the A380 to Doric.
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.
Airbus 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. The first one was scrapped in 2019, just 12 years after the first commercial flight.
Its second-hand market is almost non-existent and used A380s have always struggled to find buyers. 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.
“Not all A380s are the same,” says Asquith when asked why he picked this particular A380 among those that were up for sale. “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.”
Global and Doric are not disclosing the sale price beyond the fact that it’s “eight figures.”
According 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.
Either 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.
That’s still quite a bargain compared to the A380’s list price of $450 million, for a brand new aircraft, in 2018.
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.
Air 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). 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.
“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. “They’ve known how to use the aircraft phenomenally. Big plane does not equal lots of seats. It’s more what you can offer on the product.”
PP
https://www.cnn.com/travel/a380-global- ... index.html
https://www.globalairlines.com/
The pandemic almost killed it and its production ended sooner than anticipated in 2021, but the A380 simply refuses to die.
With more and more superjumbos soaring back into the skies amid a post-pandemic resurgence in commercial aviation, the aircraft is back in the spotlight as one new airline is built around it.
Global Airlines, a British startup that aims to offer transatlantic flights starting next year, has acquired a 16-year-old A380 as the inaugural aircraft of an all-A380 fleet — at least initially — and is in the process of refurbishing the plane to its own specifications.
It’s a rare used-market move for an aircraft that passengers adore but that airlines have struggled to turn profitable due to its operating and maintenance cost, as well as its huge size.
“It’s a fantastic aircraft when you use it in the right way and on the right routes,” says Global Airlines CEO James Asquith. “We will be looking to invest significant amounts on refurbishing the A380 we already have and the future ones that we’re looking to bring into the fleet.”
Asquith previously founded Holiday Swap, a home-swapping travel platform which is also Global’s parent company, and he holds the Guinness world record for the youngest person to visit every country in the world.
“I’ve flown on about 280 different airlines and sat there seeing what’s good, what doesn’t work and what can be improved,” he says. “We’ve structured this in a way that financially allows us to do a lot of the exciting things that no new airline that isn’t government-funded has been able to do in the last 40 years.”
The purchased A380 was among the earliest ever made and was originally delivered to Singapore Airlines in 2008. 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. It was then marketed as the only A380 in the world available for charter.
The plane then flew with a handful of airlines, including Norwegian, Madagascan Airlines and Air Senegal. 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. However, in late 2020, the Portuguese company ended the lease and returned the A380 to Doric.
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.
Airbus 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. The first one was scrapped in 2019, just 12 years after the first commercial flight.
Its second-hand market is almost non-existent and used A380s have always struggled to find buyers. 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.
“Not all A380s are the same,” says Asquith when asked why he picked this particular A380 among those that were up for sale. “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.”
Global and Doric are not disclosing the sale price beyond the fact that it’s “eight figures.”
According 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.
Either 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.
That’s still quite a bargain compared to the A380’s list price of $450 million, for a brand new aircraft, in 2018.
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.
Air 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). 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.
“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. “They’ve known how to use the aircraft phenomenally. Big plane does not equal lots of seats. It’s more what you can offer on the product.”
PP