Airline flies empty A380s to nowhere to keep its pilots flight-ready

Ensuring crew stay certified is one of the challenges carriers face as they grapple with the pandemic

FILE: An Airbus SAS A380 super jumbo performs a flying display on day two of the 51st International Paris Air Show in Paris, France, on Tuesday, June 16, 2015. Airbus SE, the France-based aerospace giant, which employs 14,000 people in Britain, where it manufacturers wings, said late Thursday that if Prime Minister Theresa May fails to broker an exit deal, it would lead to “severe disruption and interruption of U.K. production.” Airbus would be forced to “reconsider its investments in the U.K., and its long-term footprint in the country” if the country tumbled out of the bloc next year without a deal, the manufacturer said. Our editors select the best archive images on Airbus SE. Photographer: Jasper Juinen/Bloomberg

Bloomberg

Jul 23, 2020

Airlines are taking extreme measures to survive the pandemic, with Asiana Airlines flying the world’s biggest commercial plane more than 20 times, going nowhere and carrying no passengers, just to keep trainee pilots certified.

Keeping crew flight-ready is one of the challenges carriers face as they grapple with the unprecedented crisis that keeps more than a third of the world’s fleet grounded.

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The empty Airbus A380 flew over South Korea for a few hours a day for three days in May to enable pilots of the 495-seat superjumbo to practice taking off and landing. The alternative – a trip to Thailand to use a simulator owned by Thai Airways International – was blocked because of travel bans, an Asiana spokesman said.

“Take-offs and landings of this plane cost a lot of money, and it’s money that needs to be used wisely, especially these days,” said Um Kyung-a, an analyst at Shinyoung Securities in Seoul. “Asiana is in a bind because it also can’t afford for its pilots to lose their licenses.”

Asiana had another 135 pilots who didn’t have enough flying time on its six A380s, but it couldn’t afford to keep flying the empty jet. In the end, the country’s transport ministry extended the pilots’ flying credentials as a special exemption. Japan’s All Nippon Airways, which operates two A380s, received a similar extension from Japan’s aviation authority.

Most of the big A380 operators, such as Asiana’s rival Korean Air Lines, have their own simulators.

An Asiana Airlines Airbus A380 airplane sits at a gate at Los Angeles International Airport on May 24, 2018. (Photo by Daniel SLIM / AFP) — An Asiana Airlines Airbus A380. The airline had another 135 pilots who didn’t have enough flying time on its six A380s, but it couldn’t afford to keep flying the empty jets. AFP

The International Civil Aviation Organisation has provided guidelines to state members on how to help pilots keep up their skills. Normally, pilots must have taken off and landed an aircraft at least three times within the previous 90 days to keep their licence.

The problem is acute for the biggest jets, which were designed for an age of mass travel. But Boeing’s 747 has more simulators and is used by many airlines, including Korean Air, for cargo flights, allowing carriers to rotate crews to keep them certified.

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Emirates A380 through the years

FILE PHOTO: Airbus CEO Tom Enders, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum, chairman and chief executive of Emirates Airlines Group, and Louis Gallois, CEO of European Aeronautic Defence and Space company (EADS), disembark from an A380 aircraft during a handover ceremony in Hamburg, July 28, 2008. REUTERS/Tobias Schwarz/File Photo

Airbus will stop production of its A380 superjet by 2021 Reuters

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The International Air Transport Association said international air traffic may not return to pre-Covid levels until 2024.

One of the few that’s still flying the A380 is Emirates Airlines, which has the world’s biggest fleet of the superjumbos. The airline restarted A380 flights on July 15 to London Heathrow and Paris as Dubai eased travel restrictions.

Deutsche Lufthansa said last month its A380 jets will be mothballed for at least two years and may never return to service. Even before the virus, weak demand for the giant plane caused Airbus to announce it would stop making the A380 next year.

“It’s like you’re basically stuck with a 1990 car that’s running on diesel,” said Shukor Yusof, founder of aviation consulting firm Endau Analytics in Malaysia. “We’re going to see more heading to the scrapyard.”