On Wednesday I posted about how Transaero would apparently be taking delivery of two A380s this summer, which they intended to fly to New York JFK and Vladivostok. At least this was the plan according to a Russian governor.
I’ve long been intrigued by Transaero and have been eying a first class ticket on them for a while, so them taking delivery of an A380 and flying it to New York seemed like the perfect opportunity.
Now, while I hoped the story would be true, some parts of it didn’t add up, given that Transaero doesn’t even have an A380 in assembly yet, making it rather unlikely that they’d take delivery of one of the whale jets this summer.
As it turns out, Transaero has no intentions to operate the A380 to New York JFK… and is actually in the process of deferring delivery of the A380 altogether.
Via Frequent Business Traveler:
“As to the information published in some media on the airline’s plans to operate the A380 on the route to New York, we’d like to inform that Transaero has never had plans to operate this aircraft on this route,” the airline said in a written statement.
The carrier, which has four A380 aircraft on order, also plans to adjust the delivery schedule for the planes, saying it is currently in negotiations to do so “taking into account the economic situation.”
Well shucks! With that in mind, it doesn’t look like any new airlines will be taking delivery of an A380 for a few more years. The only other airline which has firm A380 orders is Virgin Atlantic, and they’re not due to be delivered until 2018.
I guess we’ll see what ends up happening with Malaysia Airlines’ A380s — maybe they’ll get some new life with another carrier. But in the meantime color me a sad A380 enthusiast. And I guess I should still give Transaero a shot, even if it’s not on the A380.
Well, while Transaero operating an A380 might be in a distant future, there might be another (for me totally unexpected) new operator:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/3228646-implications-of-a-united-airlines-a380-superjumbo-order
@TJ: And why should he not support a Russian airline?
Transaero is getting 747-8is. Could be nice to sample another one of the few carriers getting the (likely) Final version of the queen of the skies. I know you like your middle eastern airlines, but are you sure you want to be supporting a Russian airline though?
Meant to say no more new carriers to buy new airplanes. Turkish could still use the old Malaysia planes but that's not helping the future of the a380 production line
The virgin a380s are options. And you may as well consider them as good as cancelled.
As stated above, those unidentified orders were simply the since-cancelled HK Airlines orders that are now "unidentified" because Airbus isn't ready to concede there are likely zero new customers going to buy the a380. Possibly ever.
The only shot is someone picks up Malaysia's a380s, like Turkish.
It made no sense for Transaero to put an A380 on the New York route so I wasn't surprised by this news.
Nonetheless, an Imperial Class review would still be awesome.
Virgin describe their orders as 'options' for them so I doubt they will take theirs. The 10 unidentified orders were previously listed as Hong Kong Airlines and then went to unidentified so they are likely to be cancelled.
Best bet for a new operator is if the the Malaysian ones get purchased or if Amedeus finds an lessee for some of the ones they have on order.
Is everything all right? Just wanted to check and see if you got my messages! Keep up the good work on the blog!
Samuel
Who gives a hoot?
Surprised you haven't found this out yet - MH is sending its A380 to SYD for a few days starting today through June.
Word on the street is that Delta has told Virgin to cancel the A380s...which may be for the best for them.
Air Austral needs an A380 like Air Wisconsin needs an A380. Would be shocked if they didn't convert the orders into A350 or A330neo.
Don't forget about Air Austral's two orders for the A380! And there's 10 unidentified orders yet!
Ah! That sucks big time! I hope VS doesn't cancel their a380 orders given the 49% ownership of Delta.
Yes, would love to read about Imperial class from your perspective!