A Spotlight On The Diminishing A380 Aftermarket

Early 2019 saw Airbus announce that production of its A380 superjumbo—a beloved but unviable aircraft program—would cease starting in 2021. With just eight A380s delivered last year, the decision to axe the A380 program little more than a decade after the first aircraft entered service was sad but inevitable.

Learn more about the carriers who are looking to offload their A380s entirely.

However, despite a decreasing fleet, an aftermarket for the superjumbo will remain, with a sizable proportion of the aircraft yet to reach their first D check phase. Aviation Week’s Fleet & MRO Forecast data predicts aftermarket spending of $26.1 billion for the aircraft from this year through 2029. 

The A380 has in excess of 1 million parts, so the components market for it will be just short of $3 billion over the next decade. Much of the activity in the short-to-medium term will center on the Middle East, a region accounting for more than half of the global A380 fleet in 2020.

There, Emirates operates the world’s largest A380 fleet of 115 aircraft. The Dubai-based airline is among the remaining operators with future A380 commitments in place, but has reduced its orders and chosen to switch to A350 aircraft. Over the next decade, the retirement plan will begin, with a fleet reduction to 90-100 in-service aircraft by the mid-2020s and a fleet of 80-90 A380s by 2030.

Discover more about the other A380 operators and their plans. 

Given the fleet reductions, other operators are not anticipating large volumes of work. Etihad Airways Engineering, which services the Etihad fleet but mostly operates as a third-party provider with more than 70% of its work carried out for other airlines, makes A380 fleet repairs in a joint venture with Airbus at its Abu Dhabi facility. 

Read more about future A380 retirements plans.

To date, Sabena Technics has carried out projects such as modifications work on the A380, but despite having C check capabilities, it has yet to perform this service on the superjumbo. 

Read the full article - No Longevity Expected In Diminishing A380 Aftermarket by James Pozzi - here.