The Gulf Time Newspaper One of the finest business newspapers in the UAE brought to you by our professional writers and editors.
Bloomberg
The first Airbus SE superjumbo to exit service will be stored minus its engines at a French airfield as its owner seeks a new operator for a plane that while still relatively young in industry terms has fallen out of favour with airlines.
The A380 will be returned to leasing firm Dr. Peters after 10 years of service with Singapore Airlines Ltd, the model’s first customer. With Airbus struggling to win orders for the double-decker and no second-hand market established, the aircraft will be parked at Tarbes in the foothills of the French Pyrenees.
The A380 is the third built—the first two being test planes—and made the initial commercial flight by a superjumbo, between Singapore and Sydney on October 25, 2007. The jetliner’s last passenger trip was to the city state from London on June 10, after which it was grounded for decommissioning. By comparison, Boeing Co. 747-400 planes operated by British Airways typically date from 1990, according to the Ascend Worldwide database, with some slated to remain in service until 2024.
Dr. Peters, which owns four Singapore A380s, told Bloomberg that talks with potential new users of the aircraft continue and that it remains “optimistic†about agreeing a deal.
At the same time, the jet’s engines will be removed and returned to manufacturer Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc for rental to other operators in a move that may buy the plane time or prove a prelude to its scrapping. The lessor used to get $1.7 million a month for the wide-body, whereas the Rolls deal will bring in $480,000, offset by $94,000 for storage and insurance.
Three more Singapore Air A380s are set to return to Dr.
Peters in January, April and June next year, with a fourth to be sent to Doric, another leasing firm, in March. The aircraft are being retired as the Asian carrier takes delivery of five new superjumbos to bring down the average age of the fleet and offer the latest through-life enhancements.
Storing an A380 with no new operator in sight represents a setback for Airbus as it seeks to save the programme through the sale of about 20 new planes to Emirates, the largest operator of the model.
Airbus struck a blank on selling new A380s last year and has offered to revamp the model with fuel-saving winglets and 80 extra seats on top of the standard 550 to improve its appeal.
Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyreenees airport, located 75 miles from Airbus’s Toulouse headquarters in southwest France, is a popular parking site for jetliners. Tarmac Aerosave, Europe’s biggest aircraft storage company, says it can accommodate 25 planes there and hundreds more at Teruel, Spain.
The second aircraft due for return is also grounded at Singapore Changi airport where, like the first, it will be repainted white before heading to France. Rolls-Royce has a deal covering all four of the Dr. Peters planes which can be extended into 2019, going some way to ease the pressure to strike an immediate deal with a new operator. The Trent 900 powerplants will be fitted to A380s whose own engines need to be removed for maintenance, said Ulrike Germann, a spokesman for the lessor.
Under the terms of their lease to Singapore Air, the aircraft must be returned in “full life†condition, meaning that interiors, engines and other elements must be as new or the carrier faces a penalty of $25 million per plane. The existing cabins will remain in place but are being refurbished, Dr. Peters said.