Airbus A380 fans rejoice, or something. Recently, I covered how a former Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 suddenly returned to the skies, as it’s being prepared for a “new A380 customer.” Well, there’s some more surprising Airbus A380 movement, as reported by aeroTELEGRAPH, and there’s even less information about what’s going on here…
In this post:
Former Malaysia Airlines Airbus A380 flies to Abu Dhabi
On October 1, 2025, a 12-year-old former Malaysia Airlines Airbus A380 with the registration code 2-JAYN flew from Tarbes, France (LDE), to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (AUH), in a flight time of 6hr35min. In Abu Dhabi, the plane was taxied to the Etihad Engineering area of the airport.
Several days prior to that, on September 26, 2025, that plane flew around France for 2hr55min, clearly in preparation for some sort of return to service. Before that, the plane had been in long term storage since December 2022, with the widely held belief being that the plane would just eventually be scrapped.
Malaysia Airlines took delivery of this plane back in March 2013. The airline could never fully figure out what to do with its A380s, and it wasn’t utilized all that much. In total, this frame had fewer than 24,000 flight hours, across fewer than 2,300 flights.
While the plane was registered as 9M-MNF back when it flew for Malaysia Airlines, in March 2023, it was reregistered as EI-HKF, with the new owner being Airbus Financial Services. Then in March 2024, it was reregistered as 2-JAYN, while maintaining the same owner.
Where exactly is this mystery Airbus A380 headed?
In recent weeks, we’ve seen two Airbus A380s reactivated that otherwise seemed like they were heading to the scrapper. After all, there’s not much secondhand demand for the Airbus A380 (especially with Global Airlines’ A380 now being in its rightful place).
Based on two A380s being reactivated in such a short timeframe, you’d almost assume that both planes were part of the same project. However, that doesn’t appear to be the case. The two planes were flown to different places, and one plane has a mysterious ownership structure, while the other plane is owned by Airbus.
I’d almost wonder if these planes were indirectly headed to a sanctioned country, given that this is how countries like Iran and Russia often get new planes. However, Airbus is the owner of this latest jet, so I think it’s a safe bet that this isn’t the case (Airbus wouldn’t get involved in such shady stuff).
So, what other possible explanations are there for this latest A380? Could Etihad be looking to expand its A380 fleet, given that the airline is reactivating all of its available A380s, and the plane was flown to Abu Dhabi? I don’t want to say it’s impossible, but it seems highly unlikely, since that just seems like a huge headache, especially with outfitting the cabins.
Could some airline be looking for spare parts for its A380 fleet? Even if that were the case, would reactivating the jet even be the most efficient way to go about that? I’m genuinely puzzled here, so we’ll mark this as “developing” for now. Either way, more A380s flying again is always a good thing, if you ask me!
Bottom line
Another retired Airbus A380 returned to the skies this week, after being grounded for nearly three years. The former Malaysia Airlines jumbo has been owned by Airbus for most of the time it has been in storage, but was suddenly flown to Abu Dhabi.
We’ll see what happens next, but it’s noteworthy that this comes just shortly after another A380 was reactivated, and sent in for maintenance.
What’s your best guess as to what’s going on with this A380?
I don't think that this A380 have a high chance of going to Etihad.
First of all, they already parted out the first A380 they received (A6-APA).
Even if they wanted to acquire an extra A380 for parts, choosing this exact airframe doesn't seem too logical - all of ex-MAS A380s are older than the Etihad's, and more importantly have different engines installed (MAS A380s have Trent 970s (-841) while Etihad A380s have...
I don't think that this A380 have a high chance of going to Etihad.
First of all, they already parted out the first A380 they received (A6-APA).
Even if they wanted to acquire an extra A380 for parts, choosing this exact airframe doesn't seem too logical - all of ex-MAS A380s are older than the Etihad's, and more importantly have different engines installed (MAS A380s have Trent 970s (-841) while Etihad A380s have GP7270s (-861)).
(I only realised this as I was writing this comment, but the Planespotters.net says it will be delivered to Airbus back and will be used as a testbed. Not sure why would Airbus need an A380 testbed though - is this a sign of the successor of an A380?)
I flew 9M-MNF on Nov 1, 2014 KUL-LHR in F. Only me and another guy in First (and he slept most of the flight so the service was as good as it gets). Good to see it's back in the air.
I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if EY were using this A380 for parts. Their post Covid plan intended for their existing A380 fleet was supposed to be X number in the skies, X number to be used for parts. They then reactivated some of those designated for parts.
than 2,400 flight hours, across fewer than 2,300 flights… those would have been some very short flights
@ Peter -- Bleh, 24,000. Fixed, thanks!
That would almost be a flight a day if the plane stopped flying in 2020. Is that still considered a small load?