A few weeks ago the A380 production was announced to be ending, with Emirates being the largest backer of the aircraft pulling some of their orders in favour of smaller, more fuel efficient twin engine aircraft. However just because the production is ending, it does not mean that it is the end of the A380 with operations of the aircraft almost certainly continuing for the next 20 years at least. Therefore here I am going to propose some new routes that the current operators of the aircraft could add to their current A380 network.
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| British Airways are rumoured as being the most likely to expand their A380 fleet with second hand aircraft. |
Air France
Air France use their A380s to fly to major financial hubs across the world, flying to Atlanta, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Miami, New York, San Fransisco and Washington in North America, Shanghai and Hong Kong in Asia and Abidjan and Johannesburg in Africa. All of these destinations also have high levels of competition, which suggests that Air France want to use the superior size of the A380 to be able to offer a better product on these routes, therefore I would guess that if they were to add another route it would also be to a high competition destination with a high business demand. Therefore a route that I suggest that Air France could add would be Paris to Houston.
Asiana Airlines
Asiana Airlines operate a smaller route network that Air France with their A380, only using it to serve Bangkok, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, New York and Sydney from their hub in Seoul. All of these routes are typically high demand and also have a high business appeal, as well as allowing for connections between all of them. Routes that I could see Asiana Airlines operating in the coming years with their A380 would be London Heathrow and San Fransisco as both are currently served daily by an A350, which is currently the largest twin engine aircraft that Asiana Airlines operate, suggesting that there might be enough demand for these routes to be operated with an A380.
British Airways
From London British Airways serves 11 destinations. What is common to all of these destinations is that they are all either in the USA or in commonwealth countries. As well as this most of these destinations are trans-Atlantic flights, which is where British Airways currently has a large focus. A destination that would be quite obvious for British Airways to serve with the A380 would be New York as this is their flagship destination, however this is quite unlikely owing to the fact that British Airways fly this route multiple times a day. Instead I think that British Airways would be most likely to fly to Denver, Phoenix or San Diego with the A380 from London Heathrow.
China Southern
China Southern operates quite a small A380 network, only flying to and from Guangzhou from Beijing, Los Angeles and Sydney, as well as from Beijing to Chengdu. Due to the variety of these destinations, it makes it quite difficult to guess where they could possibly send the A380 to. The two routes that I could see it sent on would be from Guanzhou to a European destination (potentially Frankfurt) to add to their hub size at Guangzhou, or alternatively on another domestic route.
Emirates
Of all of the airlines on this list, no other is more dedicated to the A380 than Emirates. Being the largest operator of the type by a country mile. This also means that Emirates flies to more destinations with the A380 than any other, which actually makes it slightly harder to guess where they could send it next. It can be assumed that any destination would be to build on connecting traffic, which is the main source of income for Emirates. Looking the at the list of destinations currently served by the 777-300ER, Bahrain, Boston, Delhi, and Jakarta all stand out as destinations that could receive A380 services some day.
Ethihad
Ethihad airways used their A380 on a reasonably small network, however they all operate to major world hubs such as London and New York. As for a next destination that they could come to, two places that I think that they could feasibly fly to would be Frankfurt and Tokyo.
Korean Air
Like Eithihad, Korean Air only sends their A380 to a select few destinations, flying to 3 in America, 2 in Europe and 1 in both Asia and Australia. All of these like all the other airlines on this list are business heavy and have high demand. However unlike most of the other airlines on this list, Korean Air also operates the 747-8, the latest offering of the 747. Therefore the routes that I predict that Korean Air would be most likely to add therefore would be currently operated by this aircraft. Therefore, Frankfurt and Hong Kong would be the destinations most likely to be served by the A380.
Lufthansa
Lufthansa unlike most of the other airlines on this list have their A380 based at multiple airports, with aircraft being based at both Munich and Frankfurt, with Frankfurt being the larger of the two hubs, with all of the destinations from Munich being served from Frankfurt as well. Like Korean Air, Lufthansa is one of the 3 carriers of the 747-8 world wide as well. Therefore as these routes are operated by the A380, I would say that it would be possible to see the Lufthansa A380 serve the routes from Frankfurt to Washington, Chicago and Mexico City in the coming years.
Malaysia Airlines
Currently Malaysia Airways only operate to two destinations from Kuala Lumpur with their A380, these being Hong Kong and London. Both of these destinations are in the commonwealth themselves like Malaysia therefore I believe that there is a good chance that Malaysia Airlines would serve another Commonwealth country with their A380 if it came to it, so therefore I would say that Kuala Lumpur to Sydney would be the most likely route.
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| Qantas still operate their 747 to various destinations. Could these flights be replaced by the A380 |
Qantas
Qantas is the only other airline apart from Lufthansa to have their A380 based at multiple airports, operating flights on it from Sydney to Dallas, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles and Singapore and from Melbourne to Singapore, Dubai and Los Angeles. The routes that I think most likely to be added to this network would be the last few that are still operated by Qantas 747, the most likely of which that are still operated to be added being Sydney to San Francisco and Tokyo.
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| Qatar operate the A350 alongside their A380 |
Qatar Airways
Qatar airways serves a range of destinations with their A380, serving 3 destinations in Australia alone as well as 3 in Europe and 2 in Asia. However the flight that I think is most likely to be taken over by the Qatar A380 is not currently on any of the continents served by the A380, with this being New York JFK.
Singapore Airlines
Singapore Airlines send their A380 to a wide range of destinations across Asia and Europe, with North America probably just being a bit too far away to make it worth sending them there. A destinations in Asia that I think could cope with the Singapore airlines A380 would be Tokyo, being the second Japanese destination after Osaka that Singapore airlines serves with their A380 .
Thai Airways
Thai airways serves a select number of destinations with their A380, with the three in Europe being London, Paris and Frankfurt, and the three in Asia being Hong Kong, Osaka and Tokyo. The two new routes that I think Thai Airways could add would be to Sappro and to Sydney.
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