In August 2025, Jalopnik published an article about why the Airbus A340 Widebody Jet has four small engines instead of two larger ones. In the commentary part, a reader pointed out: “[It’s] A bit funny that Boeing and Airbus each built only two models of 4-Motor-Jet aircraft, but Boeings were both bases-loaded home runs, and Airbus’ were both commercial flops. “The referred to Boeing Aircives are of course the later to today).
At Airbus, the C-suite-execs did not recognize that the ever-increasing Extended-Range Twin-Engine Operational Performance Standards (ETOPs) would make his four-engine A340 outdated almost at the time of the launch. Much of that last sentence also applies to the A380 of the brand, with the added burden to be Freakin ‘pendant and expensive to work. The A380 made its inaugural commercial flight in 2007. A total of 251 aircraft were built, with the last unit completed in 2021.
Nowadays, around 189 of those 251 aircraft are still in operation. It is interesting that no airlines established in the United States have chosen to buy this Jumbo Est from Jumbo-Jets. In retrospect, that was a sensible decision, but it means that experiencing the novelty of flies on the largest commercial passenger ray requires traveling from or to the countries with carriers they serve. There are currently 10 airlines to choose from.
These airlines are still flying with the A380
Without further delay, here is the list of current A380 operators from August 2025. We have also included where every airline is located, plus the number of A380s owned by or rented out by that airline. This information was obtained from the Aviation Database planespotters.net And is supposed to be accurate at the time of writing. That said, aviation fleets are constantly in a state of Flux, so the messenger does not shoot when we are eliminated by a Jumbo Jet or two. Finally, note that not all flights managed by these airlines will contain the A380 – this is only on selected routes.
- Emirates, Dubai: 116
- British Airways, United Kingdom: 12
- Qatar Airways, Qatar: 10
- Singapore Airlines, Singapore: 10
- Qantas, Australia: 10
- Lufthansa, Germany: 8
- Korean Air, South Korea: 7
- Etihad, United Arab Emirates: 7
- Asiana Airlines, South Korea: 6
- All Nippon Airways/Ana, Japan: 3
If added together, the list above is in accordance with 189 of the A380 jets that are still in use. Remember that Airbus originally made 251 of this model, and of the 20 and 30 units it is known that they have been deleted. That does not leave a few dozen of the gigantic jets justified, at least of which some are storage in the long term. Positive is that some of these parked jets were restored after 1000 days.
It is luxurious, but expensive to work
To be honest, passengers love the A380. Just like Boeing’s 747, the A380 accommodations spread over two passenger decks, but unlike the 747, the upper deck of the A380 extends the full length of the plane and is not only a bump over the cockpit. For travelers in premium huts such as business class and first class, that extra space translates on board cocktaillounges and, in some cases, a “home” with several rooms instead of a chair, plus a shower suite to freshen up at 30,000 feet. Not only spacious, the A380 also has an excellent safety record with zero crashes or trunk loss incidents.
Despite those positive attributes, the A380 is extremely expensive to operate. Just like Airbus’ fateful A340, it has four engines that do an expensive jet a fuel. Depending on how each jet is configured, the A380 contains around 500 passengers in mixed cabin classes or more than 850 flyers in all-economy. That large number of passengers also requires a large number of crew members – often more than 20.
Finally, not every airport can tackle the take-off weight of the A380 million pounds, nor are 500-plus passengers, for which several Jet bridges-one that leads to the upper deck must be done fast. The A380 catalog price is around $ 450 million, but is so unpopular at airlines that it nowadays often sells more than $ 30 million, or even less if it is sold for a long recycling process.
#Airbus #A380s #airlines #flying #Jalopnik