Qatar Airways to fly unwanted A380s after A350 grounding

[reader]

From Reuters / MSN

DUBAI, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Qatar Airways will resume flights with Airbus A380s earlier than planned to make up for capacity lost in the regulator grounding of some of its A350s, according to a report published on Wednesday.

The airline last year indefinitely parked its 10 A380s after the COVID-19 collapse in long-haul travel, and said it would only ever use five of them once they returned to service.

Executive Traveller, quoting the airline's chief executive, said Qatar Airways would operate flights with five of its parked A380s from November, with all 10 possibly returning next year.

“We have to find capacity for our passengers who need airlines to take them to their loved ones for Christmas,” Akbar Al Baker was quoted as saying.

A Qatar Airways representative confirmed the report was accurate.

The five A380s would give the Gulf carrier more than half the 4,000-seat capacity it had lost in the Qatari regulatory grounding of 13 A350s in August.

The grounding followed Qatar Airways allegations that the fuselage surface below the paint on each of the jets was deteriorating.

The airline has been locked in a months-long public dispute with Airbus over the allegations, insisting it would not take any A350 deliveries until the problem was resolved.

Al Baker in January said the A380s - the world's biggest passenger jet - was the "worst aircraft" with regards to emissions.

Executive Traveller also reported that Qatar Airways was looking to hire "additional" Boeing 777 pilots from British Airways for "at least the next six months." Qatar Airways is a minority owner of British Airways-owner IAG .

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/qatar-airways-to-fly-unwanted-a380s-after-a350-grounding-report/ar-AAOXWac

 

[PeterRS]

Wonderful!. Just love that A380 aircraft although I definitely prefer the Emirates seating layout to that of Qatar. I wonder which routes it will serve.

Since one full A380 is roughly the equivalent of two A350s or 787s, I wonder how the total emissions compare.

[PeterRS]

A year ago it was virtually a dead duck. The A380 was the wrong plane at the wrong time, even though it was extremely popular with the flying public and I just loved it. Thankfully it used to extend one of its Dubai/BKK flights to Hong Kong. Since my first flight in 2010, I must have taken over two dozen round trips in its upstairs business class (relatively very inexpensive at 14,000 baht round trip including extra baggage, lounge access, seat selection, flat bed seating and the most extensive in flight entertainment in the air). I took two friends - separately - on trips to Hong Kong. They went crazy about the aircraft, especially the bar at the back!

Apart from Emirates, most airlines dropped the aircraft when covid struck. It was too big and too expensive to operate. Now, though, with demand for travel much greater than anticipated, 9 of the former 14 A380 operators have brought some of them back into service. Emirates is even retrofitting 67 of the aircraft to incude a Premium Economy cabin which looks spacious and certainly worth trying. Some operators no doubt feel it is cheaper to operate than attempt to sell since the market price for a 10-year old A380 during covid had dropped to just $30 million.

I took these photos at Hong Kong airport around 2015. Three A380s at adjacent bays. I wonder if we will ever see that again.

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/a380-superjumbo-comeback/index.htm

[fedssocr]

And with the crew shortages and other issues it makes sense to have them in the air instead of sitting in a desert somewhere.

I'm also a big fan. It also seems so quiet inside and you really feel like you're floating.