Etihad Airways hints at A380 return

Etihad Airways (EY, Abu Dhabi Int’l) is contemplating an about-face on the future of its A380-800s, once considered permanently retired, as they may temporarily return to service in 2022, Chief Executive Tony Douglas told Business Insider.

“If the economics of it work, they’re back in. The travelling public, our guests, loves them… For the last 18 months, [they were] out because the economics don’t work. The market has only really come back in the past two months, it’s probably too early to say,” he said.

In early 2021, Douglas claimed it was “very likely” the A380s would never fly for Etihad again. Underlining that the airline was not “a charity”, he pledged to focus on the B787s as the cornerstone of Etihad’s fleet in the next years. However, the return in demand has apparently changed the airline’s thinking.

Etihad Airways operates ten A380-800s, which are 6.4 years old on average. The ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows that six are parked in Teruel and four at Lourdes/Tarbes airport. All are owned by Etihad Airways.

The UAE flag carrier is the most reluctant to reactivate the type among its regional peers. Emirates (EK, Dubai Int’l), the most prolific A380 operator, has never entirely taken the type out of service – it currently deploys 121 A380-800s, having taken the last unit of the type to be produced, A6-EVS (msn 272), on December 16, 2021. Roughly half of the airline’s A380 fleet is currently active. In turn, Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad Int’l), which also operates ten A380s, reactivated the type in late 2021, despite previously claiming it would not do so. The A380s are partially covering for 21 grounded A350s.