Singapore Airlines to retire its first A380 (reg. 9V-SKA) and store it in France.

Comhrá

Does anything age as quickly as an airliner? Seems such a short time since SIA introduced the amazing A380.

Now the oldest pair are being retired and possibly scrapped if no buyer is found.


http://www.airlive.net/singapore-airlines-to-retire-its-first-a380-reg-9v-ska-and-store-it-in-france-next-week/

Harry Palmr

Planes last for decades if they are wanted in the market

john boye

Those first sia A380s have a lot of performance penalties (built overweight etc.) and weren't expected to have any takers on the second-hand market.

Doniekp

Will one end up on a boat heading to Enniscrone, Co Sligo.

ozzy jr

I'm sure it was returned to the lease holder the day the lease was up, in October, 10 years to the day since it's first flight. The paint has already been removed.

Comhrá

Doniekp wrote: »

Will one end up on a boat heading to Enniscrone, Co Sligo.

Jeez, don't be giving him ideas :eek:

Harry Palmr

Could be an interesting hotel concept.

robyntmorton

Really you could fit a small hotel inside it, so it could be a goer!

Doniekp

Leo will house the homeless in it...

Marcusm

I’ll bet it’s a bit of a conundrum for Airbus. Probably worth more parted out by the lessor but might be seen as a knock to Airbus’s pride if the first 2 commercial service birds are retired and “scrapped” after 10 years rather than flown to their eventual home as museum pieces. No doubt they’ll want to try and keep them commercial.

L1011

The first few were basically hand-wired due to the design cockup; the ongoing MX costs are huge versus series production birds.

Some of the later SQ birds are going to HiFly for charter work despite many people being convinced they were unleasable due to being heavy, having the wing crack rework done etc etc.

If they were closer to current production standard IAG would have jumped at them - it has been repeatedly said they could use more 380s but not at new prices; and they only want Rollers.

January

And yet BA are still flying their clapped out 747's and plan to until at least 2024... madness.

kona

January wrote: »

And yet BA are still flying their clapped out 747's and plan to until at least 2024... madness.

These 2 A380s are bogeys to be fair. The BA 747 are good aircraft which are probably profitable to run still.

billy few mates

At ten years old they'll likely be due their first undercarriage replacement. Might be worth parking them up to shop the landing for overhaul and rent them out as loaner sets to other operators who will also have L/G replacements coming up. Far better and cheaper to temporarily install a loan set and have the original set overhauled and reinstalled than having to replace them with a new set as their ain't going to be any second hand sets on the market for exchange.

January

kona wrote: »

These 2 A380s are bogeys to be fair. The BA 747 are good aircraft which are probably profitable to run still.

Ah no tbf I know the 747's are still good to fly. Just wish they'd update the cabins/IFE on the really really old ones. Although I know one or two are supposed to retire next month.

L1011

January wrote: »

And yet BA are still flying their clapped out 747's and plan to until at least 2024... madness.

SIA have a hard age limit. BA operate craft until they aren't financially viable anymore. Two totally different approaches. BA are like the Delta of Europe in some ways, bar the buying second hand craft bit.

billy few mates

L1011 wrote: »

SIA have a hard age limit. BA operate craft until they aren't financially viable anymore. Two totally different approaches. BA are like the Delta of Europe in some ways, bar the buying second hand craft bit.

BA do buy second hand aircraft...

L1011

billy few mates wrote: »

BA do buy second hand aircraft...

Not to the voracious extent that Delta do, though. The final replacements for the Gatwick shorthaul fleet were second hand but Delta were buying every late DC9 derivative going at one stage, they have every single MD90 built now I believe.

Doltanian

Malaysian Airlines are also parking all 6 of their A380's from next March and transferring them to some sort of Hajj Charter operation to fly Muslim pilgrims to Saudi Arabia for pilgrimage. I wonder would Emirates be interested in second hand A380's to compliment their massive fleet already.

L1011

Doltanian wrote: »

Malaysian Airlines are also parking all 6 of their A380's from next March and transferring them to some sort of Hajj Charter operation to fly Muslim pilgrims to Saudi Arabia for pilgrimage. I wonder would Emirates be interested in second hand A380's to compliment their massive fleet already.

Emirates have a similar new in, retire at a hard age limit rule to Singapore. Malaysia aren't willing to sell theirs or at least not cheap; BA apparently approached.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Shedite27

What were the problems with the first few off the production line?

L1011

Shedite27 wrote: »

What were the problems with the first few off the production line?

There was a severe design error (caused during upgrading the actual design software) meaning all the wiring was the wrong length; so they ended up being wired by hand. This makes maintenance more complicated for the rest of their service life.

A much larger amount of early ones have the wing crack retrofit which adds a little weight over a factory fixed version.

Stovepipe

Scrapping aircraft before their notional end of life is not new; Frontier and BA scrapped A320s at the age of fifteen, as they had passed that point in their lives when it was financially justifiable to reduce them to parts; engines, main gear, avionics and all the many valves in the hydraulic and fuel systems, as well as the APU and air con systems, are worth more than the hull, which is essentially beer can fodder. Even interiors can get stripped out and refitted; seat bases, galleys, overhead bins, PSUs, interior doors and all the small items like bins and boxes. Manufacturers charge comedy money for interior cabin parts, especially seats.

circular flexing

January wrote: »

Ah no tbf I know the 747's are still good to fly. Just wish they'd update the cabins/IFE on the really really old ones. Although I know one or two are supposed to retire next month.

They did update the cabins on some the 747s, but they only operate on routes with high J loadings e.g. LHR <-> JFK

Any Double !

Just had the pleasure of traveling on 2 different 747’s 400’s of the KLM fleet from Amsterdam to Curacao. The outward one was the “Bangkok” 28yrs old & the other “Hongkong” aged 27. Both in good nick save cabin crew having to reboot the entertainment system as some screens were frozen. Lotta leg room in economy and room to walk around and more importantly to lean in if standing to allow trolleys pass. I’ll miss that. Don’t know how space is in the 380 but hope to travel in an AF one in February. I noticed being close to the Airport on the island a TUI/Fly 787 leaving same route each day took a good while longer to complete same trip. Still a lotta power in the old Lady’s 4 engines. KLM say they’ll probably run them to 2020. Once they’re due an expensive D overhaul they’ll probably park them for scrap one after the other. I believe they’ve long since paid for themselves so are pure profit now even allowing for their thirst. I wonder how many BA Jumbo’s are near reaching their D’s ?

Stovepipe

on large jets like that, cargo alone will pay for the flight, making the ticket prices the pure profit.

billy few mates

https://airlinerwatch.com/leasing-company-plans-to-operate-its-own-a380-airline/

Tenger

I cant see that doing too well.

J.pilkington

The recent airfrance engine issue (60 days and counting parked up in a remote airport) surely scares the crap out of current operators and only makes it more remote that there will be any new operators ordering.

A sad state of affairs..

billy few mates

billy few mates wrote: »

https://airlinerwatch.com/leasing-company-plans-to-operate-its-own-a380-airline/

Tenger wrote: »

I cant see that doing too well.

Where would you even start ....?