With the ongoing pandemic of COVID-19 still shutting down business travel around the world, the Airbus A380’s future in commercial aviation is getting more uncertain by the day. Previously, I talked about the A380’s future for airlines in the North Pacific Rim. In this post, I’ll go over the future of the A380 for airlines in Southeast Asia and Australia and unfortunately, the future of the type is more uncertain for these carriers and there will be some speculation on my part what could happen.
Thai Airways
When it comes to the A380 having a future with Thai Airways, it looks like it’s more likely that they will remove all six aircraft from their fleet once the pandemic ends. The reason being so is because the government of Thailand is willing to downsize the Airline’s fleet. The Transport Minister for Thailand stated that “we have to reduce aircraft types in order to reduce costs and replace them with new ones through leasing or other methods.” Currently, Thai Airways has 75 airplanes but it compromises of seven aircraft types (Boeing 747-400, 777-200ER, 777-300ER, 787-8, Airbus A330-300, A350-900, and the A380). This makes maintenance a serious issue for Thai Airways. Especially when you take into account the cost of keeping an A380 in hibernation to go along with the costs of keeping them parked at Suvarnabhumi Airport and it puts Thai Airways in a difficult spot. When taking all of this into account I do believe that the A380 will be gone from Thai Airways once the pandemic ends, because of the airline’s commitment to streamline the fleet in the future by keeping all of their twinjets and retire their 747-400 and A380 to make a more efficient fleet.
Malaysia Airlines
While Thai Airways is more likely to retire their A380s, Malaysia Airlines however is more uncertain about their future plans with the type. However, they have one thing going in their favor when it comes to keeping their A380s. Malaysia is considered to be one of the biggest producers of PPE in the world. Consequently, Malaysia Airlines sees this as a potential opportunity to keep their planes flying during the pandemic including the A380. By doing this, not only can A380s keep flying, but Malaysia could keep as many workers as possible. In fact, Malaysia Airlines already has the go ahead to put cargo on some of their aircraft including the A380. However, the airline will only put the cargo in the economy class cabin so they won’t risk damaging the premium class cabins. And if Malaysia Airlines does well with this strategy, then other airlines can follow suit and allow delivery of masks and other forms of PPE to send all over the world. As a result, this would mean that the A380 is more likely to stay with Malaysia for the time being. While Malaysia Airlines have figured out a way to keep their A380s flying during the pandemic, Singapore Airlines however is a different story.
Singapore Airlines
With Singapore Airlines, the future of the A380 appears to be more up in the air as opposed to Malaysia. Prior to the outbreak, they would fly their A380s to popular destinations such as Frankfurt, New York, Sydney, Los Angeles, Shanghai, and Paris. Their First Class Suites along with Etihad and Emirates are on many traveler’s bucket lists of premium products to fly on. As a matter of fact, the A380 is so popular with Singapore that they even converted one of their planes into a restaurant at Changi Airport. But given that they were the launch customer for the A380, some of the planes in Singapore’s fleet were already retired due to their old age. Despite this however I do believe that the A380 has a future with Singapore Airlines. The reason being so is because Singapore actually updated some of their A380s with their new First Class Suites and given that a lot of travelers love the new product, it would be a good reason for Singapore to keep their A380s.
Another reason why I think the A380 will have a future with Singapore Airlines is for similar reasons as to why I believed that Korean Air will keep theirs. To begin with, recently Singapore and Hong Kong announced a “travel bubble” similar to what Korean Air did between South Korea and China for business travel. And just like the with Korean Air, a “travel bubble” between Singapore and Hong Kong will allow passengers to feel safer traveling for business or leisure between the two largest economic centers in Asia. Consequently, if passengers feel more safe, more people will fly thus Singapore can utilize the A380 on this route in the future.
Lastly, just like Korean Air, Singapore also has a strategic advantage when it comes to utilizing the A380. Just like how Korean Air would utilize their A380 for their Seoul-San Francisco route assuaging the burden for Delta to expand operations at SFO so they can focus on expanding elsewhere, Singapore’s position in Star Alliance can do the same thing. For example, Lufthansa wouldn’t have to worry about having to schedule flights from Frankfurt or Munich and Singapore can use an A380 to cover that market thus allowing them to focus on other destinations to fly towards. Similarly, United Airlines would benefit from a Singapore A380 flying into LAX so they can expand to other destinations internationally such as Shanghai or Hong Kong. That’s why I do believe that Singapore Airlines will keep flying their A380s when the pandemic fizzles out. Qantas however is a different story.
Qantas
While there is a case to be optimistic when it comes to the A380 with Singapore Airlines, the same can’t be said for Qantas. Earlier this year, the airlines CEO Alan Joyce announced that their A380s will be grounded until at least mid-2023. However there is a greater likelihood that Qantas might just retire their A380s soon. The reason being so is because recently they retired their last 747s from their fleet so it would make sense for the A380 to follow closely behind. This would be due in part to Qantas restructuring their long haul fleet by just utilizing widebody twins such as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner or Airbus A350 (the latter being used for Project Sunrise).
But just like with Singapore though, there is some reason to have some hope when it comes to codeshares. Last summer I talked about how American Airlines dropped 19 long haul routes from LAX to focus on expanding in Dallas and Seattle. Given that Qantas is in the Oneworld Alliance with American Airlines, the latter would benefit from Qantas utilizing an A380 because it would ease the burden on American’s network and focus more on Dallas and Seattle. But only time will tell if Qantas will keep their A380s and given the aforementioned retirement of their 747s, the A380’s future in the Outback is more uncertain.
Conclusion
In summary, the fate of the A380 in the South Pacific Rim is more uncertain and hopefully my speculation will shed a light of whether we will be able to see A380s from these carriers fly again. With that said, I would like to thank you guys for following my series “The Future of the A380” and if you want me to do a similar series with other aircraft types like the 747-400 or A340, let me know. In addition, let thoughts about what’s going to happen to the A380 for airlines in the South Pacific Rim in the comments section down below and keep looking to the sky!
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