Earlier today, an Air France Airbus A380, registered as F-HPJB, flew from Paris to Malta International Airport (MLA) after arriving from Johannesburg. The flight number was AF370V.
This flight begins the retirement of 10 Air France Airbus A380s, the schedule is to retire all of them before 2022.
After the arrival, the aircraft will be fully repainted white at Aviation Cosmetics Malta; then it will go back to its lessor, Dr. Peters Group.
F-HPJB joined Air France in February 2010, became the second Airbus A380 in the airline’ s fleet.
Air France is the second airline to begin retiring Airbus A380s. The first was Singapore Airlines, which has already retired 5. The aircraft previously registered as 9V-SKB has already been dismantled, becoming the first dismantled A380 in the world.
From an Air France press release published earlier:
“The current competitive environment limits the markets in which the A380 can profitably operate.”
Unlike many other airlines, such as Lufthansa, Qantas, China Southern and Emirates, Airbus A380s are not profitable for Air France. Using their hub advantage Emirates plays well with the largest A380 fleet, making a 282% increase in net profit earlier this year.