German airline group Lufthansa plans to fly the Airbus A380 again from summer 2023, it said on Monday, joining other carriers to announce a comeback for the superjumbo.
Lufthansa said the move is in response to a rise in demand and delays in aircraft orders, adding that it has yet to decide on destinations and how many planes to put back in the sky.
In a statement released on Monday, Lufthansa said the aircraft was returning “in response to the steep rise in customer demand and the delayed delivery of ordered aircraft,” noting the A380 remains popular with its crew, as well as passengers.
As reported by CNN, Lufthansa has sold six of its A380s over the last couple of years and the airline has eight superjumbos remaining in its fleet. These aircraft are currently in “deep storage” in Spain and France. The German flag carrier says it’s still assessing how many A380s will be reactivated, and is figuring out what routes they might fly on.
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Typically airlines deploy superjumbos on long-haul, popular routes. The size of the aircraft makes them costly to run, so there has to be demand to justify it.
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the demise of the world’s largest jets, but the European double-decker is gaining a new lease of life as airlines scramble to cope with rising demand and shortages of newer models.
Singapore Airlines, meanwhile, acknowledged the passenger appeal of the superjumbo when announcing plans to reinstate the aircraft last year. “Some people just book the A380 specifically to fly on it,” Siva Govindasamy, Singapore Airlines’ global public affairs head, told CNN Travel.
(with inputs from agencies)
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