Qatar Airways will immediately drop five Airbus A380s – half its fleet – while the superjumbo size question mark still hangs above the rest of the fleet.
The decision sees an Oneworld member join the list of airlines that have either canceled their A380s (Air France, Lufthansa) or plan to operate a pared-back fleet in the future (Singapore Airlines, and possibly Qantas).
The ten A380s at Qatar Airways have been established since March 2020, by the CEO of the airline His Excellency Akbar Al Baker admits in May 2020 that “they will not return for at least a year, and probably will not. “
“Never” is now the working word for five of these A380s, and could extend to all of them.
All of Qatar’s A380s have been established since March 2020.
Speaking at the overnight CAPA Live online event, Al Baker commented on the A380s “we have decided that we will not work them in the future, and even when we operate them we will only work half the numbers we have. “
Instead, Qatar’s focus will shift to the Boeing 777’s main single-deck hubs as well as the modern and more fuel-efficient Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 Dreamliners.
While Al Baker kept his decision in check environmental terms – describing the A380 as “one of the worst flights when it comes to airborne emissions today” – there is little doubt that the high cost of pier flights is twofold at a time when it cannot be refilled with travelers adding an economic angle.
The clock has been ticking on the Qatar Airbus A380 fleet for months now, with Al Baker announcing Active Traveler at the end of 2020 “I’m going to drop my A380s on their 10th anniversary “.
The superjumbos arrived in Qatar Airways between September 2014 and April 2018, so “starting from the next four years, our first A380s will start going into the desert, for no reason are those expensive gas guzzlers with little return on investment. “
This timeline was behind Qatar’s decision not to upgrade the A380s from their previous generation business class seat to the latest Qsuite.
Once the pride of Qatar’s navy, the A380s were crowned eight first-class open rooms, revealed to them by Al Baker Active Traveler “average loading feature never exceeded 55-60%. “
First-class tour of Qatar: the open chambers of the Airbus A380.
But the A distinctive feature of the superjumbo was the spacious ‘Sanctuary’ industrial lounge on the upper deck.
Applecross lounge on the top deck of Qatar Airbus A380.
The A380 is the only Qatar Airways aircraft to feature the first class, and Al Baker has been reiterating its view that demand for the first class is declining, based on both high price tag and how the business class Qsuites has narrowed the gap between the first and the industry.
However, as previously reported, the airline is developing a state-of-the-art cab for the upcoming Boeing 777X jets to fill a gap in the high-end travel market once their Airbus A380s have retired.
The luxury cocoons appeared on a “just handful” of Boeing 777-9 aircraft at the Gulf, revealed by Al Baker Active Traveler in June 2020.
At the same time, the first-class submarine would only appear on a few oversized European routes.
“We’re exploring the possibility of having a very special cabinet of just four seats, for example,” said Al Baker, describing it as a “very special product” aimed specifically at -travel Qatari with good spirits.
“We have a huge demand here in Qatar for two or three European destinations” such as London and Paris, Al Baker explains, “so we may introduce a first class small cabin for our cargo. -local travelers who want a truly unique first-class product. ”
Read also: Qatar Airways new Boeing 787-9 business class
David Flynn is a Senior Traveler and a bit of a traveling traveler with a flair for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.