(CNN) — The A380 superjumbo is beloved among aviation fans, thanks to its spacious interior, mighty size and quiet inflight experience, but its days have been numbered since Airbus announced in 2019 it was ceasing production of the airliner.
Costly to run, the world’s largest passenger aircraft’s demise was apparently accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic travel slump, but now German airline Lufthansa — which had been selling off its grounded A380s and was understood to be retiring the aircraft from its fleet — has announced plans to redeploy the huge plane from summer 2023.
Return of the superjumbo
Lufthansa’s A380s are currently in “deep storage.” Here’s a May 2020 photo of Lufthansa A380s parked in a storage facility at Teruel Airport.
David Ramos/Getty Images
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.
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.
While in recent years the A380 appeared to be on the way out, Lufthansa’s decision suggests the A380’s not resigned to the history books just yet. Superjumbos also remain in Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Korean Air, All Nippon Airways and British Airways’ fleets.
Top photo: a parked Lufthansa A380 photographed in March 2020 by Thomas Lohnes/Getty Images