Emirates (EK, Dubai International) is planning to reactivate all of its aircraft by the Summer 2022 season, including its A380-800s, except for those which were scheduled to retire regardless of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We're not getting rid of any of them apart from I think three that are coming out and nine B777s that were scheduled to come out this year," President Tim Clark told The Financial Times.
He added that the Airbus quadjets will continue to have a place in Emirates' fleet "on the scale it has before", although "not today or fully next year". Clark said that until the Summer 2022 season, some of the A380-800s would be put in storage.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, Emirates operates 115 A380-800s and is by far the world's largest operator of the type. It has a further eight on firm order from Airbus as one of only two remaining customers for new-built aircraft (the other being ANA - All Nippon Airways, which is awaiting delivery of its third and final, already built, A380). Clark would not comment on whether Emirates would seek to cancel its outstanding order, although he admitted the airline was in talks with the manufacturer.
Airbus planned to continue building the A380s through 2021 and terminate the programme once the last aircraft have been delivered to Emirates.
Facing depressed demand and expected slow recovery, multiple airlines have been considering the future of their A380s; Air France (AF, Paris CDG) recently retired all of its nine A380s. Other airlines reportedly studying the future of the type include Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt International) and Etihad Airways (EY, Abu Dhabi International).
