Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad International) plans to retire its A380-800s on the "tenth anniversary" of their flying for the carrier, which falls in 2024, Qatar Airways Group CEO Akbar Al Baker told the Aviation Analyst.
"For the A380s, on the tenth anniversary, we will retire them. Once we have paid our financial obligations, they will go. We don’t see any secondary market opportunity," Al Baker said.
The Qatari carrier currently operates ten owned A380-800s. The airline took delivery of the first Airbus quadjet in September 2014 and the last in April 2018. It does not have any outstanding orders for the type.
Al Baker said that Qatar Airways planned to replace the A380s with B777Xs, of which it has sixty on order with Boeing (ten B777-8s and fifty B777-9s).
Qatar Airways currently deploys the A380s from Doha Hamad International to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi, Frankfurt International, Guangzhou, London Heathrow, Melbourne Tullamarine, Paris CDG, Perth International, and Sydney Kingsford Smith.
Due to the lack of demand for new aircraft, Airbus decided to end the production of A380s in 2021. The manufacturer will deliver fourteen more units to Emirates (EK, Dubai International) and three to ANA - All Nippon Airways (NH, Tokyo Haneda) until then.
