In June 2022, Lufthansa announced plans to bring back the Airbus A380, to be based exclusively in Munich. Up until now, the plan was only officially to bring back six A380s, though there’s an exciting update, as noted by aeroTELEGRAPH — Lufthansa plans to reactive all eight A380s that it still owns.
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Lufthansa’s plans to bring back Airbus A380s
Lufthansa has reactivated its Airbus A380 fleet as of the summer of 2023. Pre-pandemic, Lufthansa had an Airbus A380 fleet of 14 jets, and the plan is now as follows:
- Six of the jets have already been sold, so most definitely won’t return, making the maximum fleet size eight aircraft
- Lufthansa now officially plans to bring back all eight Airbus A380s that it still owns
- Three of these A380s have already returned to service as of this summer, a fourth A380 will return this fall, and four more A380s will return in 2024
This is obviously the best case scenario, since we’re seeing Lufthansa bring back as many A380s as it can.
Lufthansa’s A380 fleet was grounded at the beginning of the pandemic, and the planes were in long term storage in France and Spain for a few years. At the time, Lufthansa claimed that it would only bring back these planes “in the event of an unexpectedly rapid market recovery.”
Lufthansa has attributed the return of the Airbus A380 to two factors:
- The steep rise in customer demand, as we’re seeing the demand for international air travel recover more quickly than airlines had anticipated
- The delayed delivery of aircraft on order; in particular, the Boeing 777X has been delayed by at least five years, and now won’t enter service until at least 2025
The basics of Lufthansa’s Airbus A380 fleet
The Airbus A380 is of course the world’s largest passenger jet, and Lufthansa’s Airbus A380s feature a total of 509 seats. This includes:
- Eight first class seats, in a 1-2-1 configuration
- 78 business class seats, in a 2-2-2 configuration
- 52 premium economy seats, in a 2-4-2 configuration
- 371 economy class seats, in a 3-4-3 configuration
Lufthansa’s Airbus A380s aren’t all that remarkable as such, especially compared to the jets flown by some other airlines, like Emirates and Singapore Airlines. However, I’d say there are a few noteworthy things:
- Lufthansa’s first class footprint has been decreasing significantly over the years, so the return of the A380 will bring back some capacity; this is a trend that the airline is starting to reverse, though, as we learn more about Lufthansa’s new first class plans
- Lufthansa’s A380 first class lavatories have urinals, making them the only urinals on commercial aircraft (I know, this is a real key reason to fly the jet) 😉
- Many appreciate economy on the A380, since the 3-4-3 layout offers passengers more space than you’d find on other jets
- Regardless of which cabin you’re traveling in, the A380 is a quiet and smooth ride
Lufthansa Airbus A380s will all be based in Munich
Lufthansa plans to base its Airbus A380s exclusively in Munich, rather than Frankfurt. Currently the planes are flying to Boston and New York, though as of this winter they’ll fly to Bangkok and Los Angeles.
For context, historically Lufthansa has based its Airbus A380s in Frankfurt. There was a brief period where the airline based the planes in Munich due to a dispute with Frankfurt Airport, but that didn’t last long.
The return of Lufthansa’s A380s complements the carrier reactivating some of its Airbus A340-600s. These planes also feature first class.
Interestingly the return of the A380 isn’t necessarily temporary. Lufthansa just placed another wide body aircraft order, and the airline made it clear that several subfleet types will be retired in the coming years. The A380 wasn’t among them. I imagine Lufthansa isn’t positive what exactly the plan is, but will play it by ear depending on demand and whether new aircraft are delivered on schedule.
Lufthansa will be introducing its new “Allegris” cabins soon, which include an all-new first class and all-new business class. The airline hasn’t yet decided one way or another if these cabins will be installed on A380s.
My guess is that A380s likely won’t get the new cabins. Assuming A350-900s and A350-1000s are delivered on-time, Lufthansa will eventually have 20 long haul jets in a four cabin configuration based in Munich, which I imagine is sufficient to meet that demand. Of course realistically it could be the late 2020s before all those planes are delivered.
Bottom line
Lufthansa has reactived its Airbus A380s as of the summer of 2023. Up until now the plan was to bring back six of these jets, but that has now been increased to the maximum of eight jets. Three jets have already entered service, one more should enter service soon, and four more should enter service in 2024.
These planes will be based in Munich, though it remains to be seen for how long they’ll stay in Lufthansa’s fleet. This isn’t being marketed as a short term solution, but Lufthansa also hasn’t committed to installing its new cabins on A380s.
What do you make of Lufthansa bringing back the maximum number of Airbus A380s?
I agree that the A380, for many carriers, got a lucky albeit short-term reprieve… the “revenge” travel boom coming out of the C19 pandemic.. and the delay of the next gen B777 fleet.. those two combined I suspect forced some carriers to delay their plans to completely phase out their A388s.
I don’t think that once the 77X starts to come online that we will see A388s remain for much longer.
I do think it’s...
I agree that the A380, for many carriers, got a lucky albeit short-term reprieve… the “revenge” travel boom coming out of the C19 pandemic.. and the delay of the next gen B777 fleet.. those two combined I suspect forced some carriers to delay their plans to completely phase out their A388s.
I don’t think that once the 77X starts to come online that we will see A388s remain for much longer.
I do think it’s a great aircraft from a PaxEx basis, but I also think that the way the global market developed, that there’s just not all THAT many routes where an A388 is the optimally best fleet type to use long term.
For non-Schengen origing passengers only connecting in Germany, Munich is the best airport, as on of the few designed and built in post-Schengen Europe. All other airports, like FRA, MAD, LIS, CDG, AMS, MLP, were designed before Schengen, and, as such, the redesigned passenger flows with a "domestic"/Schengen track and a "non domestic"/extra-Schengen track meant work-arounds. That can mean the most maze-like passenger flows in FRA or, worst, at CDG2, and kilometers of zig-zagging. Munich...
For non-Schengen origing passengers only connecting in Germany, Munich is the best airport, as on of the few designed and built in post-Schengen Europe. All other airports, like FRA, MAD, LIS, CDG, AMS, MLP, were designed before Schengen, and, as such, the redesigned passenger flows with a "domestic"/Schengen track and a "non domestic"/extra-Schengen track meant work-arounds. That can mean the most maze-like passenger flows in FRA or, worst, at CDG2, and kilometers of zig-zagging. Munich is likely the most efficient airport to change from a non-Schengen to a Schengen flight.
Amsterdam, Zurich and Copenhagen are not too bad since they are lower traffic airports and their simple terminal layout has been easier to reconfigure post-Brexit than some other legacy airports.
Why not Boeing 747 -800s??
Great, so now we can simply route through MUC instead of FRA to enjoy LH FC awards for a few more years
With the delays of Boeing 777-9s (God knows when they will be certified and what other issues will they find along the way), Lufthansa really has no choice but to reactivate the A380s. The 747-400s are still active too.
Honestly Lufthansa's long haul products are so out-dated that I avoid it at all costs. I will rather fly Turkish 2-2-2 Airbus 330/Boeing 777s than any of those strange Lufthansa 2-2-2 "new" business class. Last...
With the delays of Boeing 777-9s (God knows when they will be certified and what other issues will they find along the way), Lufthansa really has no choice but to reactivate the A380s. The 747-400s are still active too.
Honestly Lufthansa's long haul products are so out-dated that I avoid it at all costs. I will rather fly Turkish 2-2-2 Airbus 330/Boeing 777s than any of those strange Lufthansa 2-2-2 "new" business class. Last time I flew LH's long haul is on its ex-PR A350s.
Nevertheless it is good to see these beautiful A380s around.
Great news. I always find Lufthansa staff very hard working and professional. They don’t look down snobbish on Americans like many other Europeans like the French, Dutch and British airline staff.
Hank, if you consistently have issues with entire nationalities it might be time to ask yourself if your behaviour is the issue. Based on your jingoistic nonsense and the casual bigotry you habitually display here I am confident that the issue is you.
When everyone else is always the problem you’re the problem.
There will be great demand for the Euro and Olympics next summer. That after, the planes are back to storage. As Europe will go into a recession.
If it does go into recession then it means it is even better value for the American tourist routes filling the premium heavy superjumbos. Think.
Given how expensive it is to not only operate these aircraft but return them to service, I am guessing that LH believes there will be strong longhaul demand as far out as they can see which is beyond 2025 and the expected arrival of the B777Xs. LH wouldn't spend the money to put the A380s back in service if they didn't plan to keep them for 5+ years.
The A350-1000s are rolling off the...
Given how expensive it is to not only operate these aircraft but return them to service, I am guessing that LH believes there will be strong longhaul demand as far out as they can see which is beyond 2025 and the expected arrival of the B777Xs. LH wouldn't spend the money to put the A380s back in service if they didn't plan to keep them for 5+ years.
The A350-1000s are rolling off the line fairly close to schedule with some minor delays for engines but far closer to on-time than the B777X. It is precisely because the A350 is larger than the B787 and is being delivered pretty close to on-time that demand for the A350 will be strong. LH picked up additional used A350-900s in addition to its new-build models copying DL's strategy.
It is great to see LH further developing a true two hub intercontinental system with a big vote for MUC. Germany is the only EU country and one of a relatively few worldwide that seems capable of pulling that off.
@Tim...agree with all of your comments, but would add as a point, their are 2 other European countries of having complementary hubs...though would need to be strategically managed differently than the FRA/MUC model, with different types of fleets. Yes, Germany certainly has a higher GDP...but there's strategic potential in the following:
GDP Spain 1.427 trillion USD (2021)
MAD Population 3,255,944million (2023)
BCN Population 5,687,356 (2023)
GDP Italy 2.108 trillion USD (2021)
MIL Population...
@Tim...agree with all of your comments, but would add as a point, their are 2 other European countries of having complementary hubs...though would need to be strategically managed differently than the FRA/MUC model, with different types of fleets. Yes, Germany certainly has a higher GDP...but there's strategic potential in the following:
GDP Spain 1.427 trillion USD (2021)
MAD Population 3,255,944million (2023)
BCN Population 5,687,356 (2023)
GDP Italy 2.108 trillion USD (2021)
MIL Population 1,236,837 (2023)
FCO Population 2,318,895 (2023)
GDP Germany 4.26 trillion USD (2021)
FRA Population 650,000 (2023)
MUC Population 1,260,391 (2023)
I realize that the population figures don't reflect the full catchment areas of any of these cities.
@Leigh
BCN population is around 1.7/1.8M, what you are mentioning is the population in the urban area of Catalunya. To compare apples wit apples:
MIL would be close to 11M
FCO almost 6M
MUC almost 13M
FRA is a bit more complex to calculate as population is distributed over a larger area
Do we know what happened to the other 380s that were in the Lufthansa fleet prior to the pandemic? Are they flying for someone else or were they scrapped?
The article literally states that they sold off 6 of them. A quick Google/Bing search should tell who who they sold the too. None were scrapped by LH. Could have scrapped by the buyers though.
They were sold back to Airbus
Latest info is they are stored, not scrapped yet
If they wanted more capacity you would think Airbus would lease them back at an attractive rate.
Anyone knows why LH chose MUC instead of FRA for their A380s, even though FRA has historically been the bigger market?
There is a history of disputes between LH and Fraport. There is something about the economics of landing in Munich being better than Frankfurt.
Any rumors as to when we'll see another Aeroplan points sale?
Great news. From passenger perspective its the most comfortable plane out there. Not sure how A350, but B787 or B777 (I know it's older technology) is not even close.
Such a shame we will not be seeing A380 so much in the next 10 years.
A friend flew on the LH A350 in Y from MUC to LAX. Said it was absolutely horrible. Then again, he had flown over in UA J class, sooooo ya know.
I s'pose, they said "in the event of an unexpectedly rapid market recovery" and, well, given how badly major airlines have been straining and scrambling and struggling, it's fair to say that the recovery was unexpectedly rapid, at least from the perspective of airline executives.