China Southern Airlines to retire A380s by YE22

China Southern Airlines (CZ, Guangzhou) is set to retire all of its remaining A380-800s by the end of 2022, Chinese media has reported.

The Chinese carrier owns and operates five A380s, which are 10.3 years old on average, the ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows. The first two, B-6136 (msn 31) and B-6137 (msn 36), were retired from revenue service in late October and early November 2021, respectively. On February 24, both aircraft were ferried from Guangzhou via Victorville to Mojave for storage, Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows. For the time being, the other three remain in active service, although each of them operates only every few days. The type is deployed to Amsterdam Schiphol, London Heathrow, Los Angeles Int’l, Sydney Kingsford Smith, and Melbourne Tullamarine, the ch-aviation schedules module indicates.

China Southern Airlines is the only A380 operator in China. It stood out during the COVID-19 pandemic as it has never fully grounded the type, although its utilisation was minimal. In April 2021, as other airlines were revealing plans to reactivate their A380s, the Chinese airline was much more hesitant to commit to their long-term operation.

Once the A380s are retired, China Southern Airlines’ largest widebody aircraft type by passenger capacity will be the B777-300(ER)s, seating up to 361 passengers each. Its A380s can seat up to 506 passengers each. The airline never operated B747s in passenger configuration, although it does have two B747-400(FSCD)s.