Emirates Retires First Airbus A380

Emirates is the largest operator of the Airbus A380 aircraft with 114 in service and 8 more on order.

The first Airbus A380 to be retired from the fleet is registration A6-EDB, now sporting an all white paint scheme at Dubai International Airport.

This A380 joined the company’s fleet in October of 2008 and was the second A380 acquired by the airline.  The aircraft is still relatively young at only 12 years old, but due to the downturn in global aviation, older aircraft are being retired and phased out sooner than expected.

This is not the youngest Airbus A380 to be retired from an airline.  Back in 2017, Singapore Airlines retired their first A380 after only 10 years of service, and more recently Air France retired their entire fleet of A380’s.

Emirates is trying to negotiate their way out of the delivery of the final 8 aircraft on order, which are due by 2021.

The original plan from Emirates (pre-pandemic) was to operate their A380s for up to 15 years.  With aircraft flying reduced schedules and empty cabins, flying a massive double decker aircraft is financially nonviable.

Time will tell what remains in store for the rest of the Emirates A380 fleet.