Flight Friday: Airbus A380 Flight Hours By Operator

Following on from last week's Airbus A380 Flight Friday, this week we break down the flight hours a little, by operator.

Emirates is by far the largest operator of the A380, and for June 2023, they are flying 85% of hours when compared to June 2019. With the A380 remaining the backbone of the Emirates fleet, we should continue to see the amount of utilization increase.

British Airways are operating their A380s at nearly 95% of 2019 levels. This is an important aircraft for the slot restrained London Heathrow airport, with other operators also using the A380 in/out of Heathrow.

Lufthansa have said that they will not return all their A380s to the air post-pandemic, but they are still up at 70% of June 2019 levels in June 2023.

 

Qatar, the airline that really wanted to not return the A380 to service, are at 66% of 2019 levels, again putting it on routes including Heathrow, showing how important the aircraft can be in the current climate.

Most other A380 operators are below the 60% utilization mark when compared to June 2019, with Air France, China Southern Airlines, HiFly, Malaysia Airlines, and Thai Airways all having removed the A380 from their fleets completely.

Overall utilization for June 2023 is at 60% of 2019.

This data was put together using Aviation Week’s Tracked Aircraft Utilization tool.

Daniel Williams

Based in the UK, Daniel is the Manager of Fleet, Flight and Forecast data for Aviation Week Network. Prior to joining Aviation Week in 2017, Daniel held a number of industry positions analyzing fleet data.

FlightFriday

Flight Friday is compiled using data from Aviation Week Intelligence Network’s (AWIN) Tracked Aircraft Utilization module, the most comprehensive and accurate solution for global tracking of aircraft utilization. 

Based on recorded flight movements from ADS-B data, combined with AWIN’s robust fleet intelligence, users gain insight into the aircraft’s actual versus reported movement, down to the tail number. This unique solution provides users a more up-to-date and comprehensive analysis of aircraft utilization.