Etihad Airways is returning four of its Airbus A380s to service as the carrier seeks to expand its route network.

Etihad Engineering, Etihad Group’s maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) arm, has completed a six-year heavy maintenance check on the first of the aircraft—which, like its nine sister ships, has been in long-term ground storage since the start of the pandemic.

The first aircraft to be returned to service has been stored at Teruel, Spain. It recently made the short hop to Tarbes-Lourdes Airport in southwest France before being ferried to Abu Dhabi for its C check.

The aircraft will return to service on the Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH)-London Heathrow Airport (LHR) run on July 25. All four A380s will be employed purely on the AUH-LHR sector “for the foreseeable future,” an Etihad spokeswoman told Aviation Daily. The precise timeframe for returning all four to active duty is not yet known.

The second A380 is already undergoing its C check, and the third will follow shortly.

According to the Aviation Week Network Fleet Discovery database, of the four A380s scheduled for restoration to flying status, A6-APG and A6-APH are now in Abu Dhabi, while A6-API is in Xiamen, China. The location of the fourth, A6-APJ—which has not flown since 2021—is not currently known.

The four aircraft are only six to seven years old. The remaining six aircraft still in storage are eight to nine years old.

The airline declined to comment on whether the remaining six A380s will be brought back into service. They were parked under the leadership of previous CEO Tony Douglas, who said it was highly unlikely they would return to service but never completely closed the door on the idea of reinstating them if economic conditions were right to do so.

Like many airlines, Etihad is coping with strong demand for flights.

Preparing the first A380 for its return to service, Etihad Engineering removed, inspected and reinstalled the full aircraft cabin, which features “The Residence” suite, nine “first apartments” and 70 “business studios” on the upper deck, as well as 405 economy seats.

The check included rear spar alterations; frame modifications; removal, inspection and installation of all four engines; and inspection and servicing of a wide range of components in Etihad Engineering’s Abu Dhabi workshops.

The company’s senior vice president for airframe services, Haytham Nasir, said Etihad Engineering “carried out the world’s first 12-year check on an A380,” adding that their team has implemented “complex structural modifications, landing gear changes, cabin refurbishment and numerous heavy maintenance programs for customers from Asia, Europe, Australia, the Middle East and the Far East.”

“We have delivered the first A380 of the Etihad Airways re-entry into service program, and work has begun on the next input in the nose-to-tail project at our facility,” Etihad’s Vice President for Commercial David Doherty added.

Although the cabin seating was removed and inspected, there were no significant modifications to the cabin configuration or amenities. The aircraft does not feature the latest interiors introduced in recent years on Etihad’s Boeing 787-9s and -10s or its A350-1000s.

Aviation Daily understands that the A380s are being reintroduced to free up other aircraft currently serving London, in order to accommodate the continuing expansion of the airline’s route network.

The airline began services to Lisbon, Portugal, in June and from September it will be introducing—or reintroducing—flights to Copenhagen; Düsseldorf, Germany; and Osaka, Japan. Frequencies on several European destinations have also recently been stepped up to twice daily.