Etihad Airways is unlikely to welcome the Airbus A380 again to its fleet within the wake of the Covid-19 shutdown, chief government Tony Douglas has confirmed.
In an interview with the National, the aviation chief mentioned the most important plane on this planet was not worthwhile to function.
“We have now now taken the strategic choice to park the A380s, I’m certain it is vitally doubtless that we are going to not see them working with Etihad once more,” Douglas defined.
Airbus itself had beforehand mentioned it expects to stop manufacturing the plane sort this 12 months, whereas solely four have been delivered final 12 months.
Air France, Lufthansa and Qantas are among the many different carriers to have outlined plans to curtail the usage of the A380 following the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Etihad choice additionally means the tip of the Residence, the ultra-exclusive non-public cabin provided on the A380.
Designed for as much as two visitors, the posh three-room residence options an en-suite bathe room, non-public bed room and separate residing space.
A VIP journey concierge and devoted workforce are additionally readily available to handle all the pieces for travellers, from the chauffeur-driven limousine to a personal airport lounge.
Earlier than the pandemic, the service was provided on journeys from Abu Dhabi to London, New York, Sydney, Paris and Seoul.
Etihad, not like fellow UAE-based airline Emirates, didn’t have a big fleet of A380s and solely operated ten previous to the pandemic.
The technique was much like Center Japanese rival Qatar Airways, which can be downsizing its A380 fleet because it charts a post-pandemic restoration.
Qatar Airways has already retired half of its previously ten-aircraft-strong A380 fleet, primarily used on routes to well-liked European and Asian-Pacific cities.
Each Qatar Airways and Etihad have invested extra in twin-engine plane just like the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, Boeing 777X and Airbus A350 XWB.
British Airways has additionally despatched its A380 fleet into storage to trip out the pandemic.
Portuguese constitution airline Hello Fly started flying A380 cargo flights through the pandemic however finally parted with the plane in 2020 on the finish of its lease.
The Airbus A380 entered passenger service at a time when airways have been beginning to search for smaller plane and the pandemic solely accelerated its more and more short-lived tenure.
All Nippon Airways was the final new buyer to take supply of a brand new A380 in 2019, simply 14 years following the primary take a look at flight in 2005.
Emirates will doubtless be the final service to fly the A380 because the world’s largest operator of the mannequin.
Airbus is gearing up for the ultimate supply, and has already trucked the ultimate fuselage to its Toulouse manufacturing facility.
Extra Data
Etihad Airways is taken into account the World’s Leading Airline by voters on the World Travel Awards.
