Lufthansa's latest Airbus A380 took off this morning from Frankfurt airport, bound for Teruel, Spain. The flight is operated to send the D-AIMH registered aircraft for conservation. It could be Lufthansa's last flight operated with an Airbus A380 aircraft, as the airline's CEO, Carsten Spohr, said the aircraft did not fit into Lufthansa's plan.
The aircraft left the Lufthansa hub at 09:00. The plane will join aircraft from the A380 fleet already stored in Teruel. Another part of the fleet is stored in France. The German carrier kept the aircraft in Frankfurt in the event that it had a chance to return to the sky, but with the slow return of the Boeing 747-400 aircraft, it was decided to store them, until a future decision.
D-AIMH has the serial number 70. It flew for the first time on December 9, 2010 and officially joined the Lufthansa fleet on July 5, 2011. The aircraft flew 38.587 hours and operated 3.930 flights. With a current market value of $ 42.49 million, the plane last flew a year and a half ago.
Lufthansa's latest Airbus A380, D-AIMH, took off from Frankfurt Airport, destined for the warehouse in the Spanish desert.
Although it is not possible to say with certainty, it seems that this flight could be the last Airbus A380 flight to be operated by Lufthansa. CEO Carsten Spohr commented: "Teruel and Tarbes, the two locations that store the airline's Airbus A380 aircraft, are operated by Tarmac Aerosave. Tarmac Aerosave abandoned most A380 aircraft, with the exception of the first Airbus A380 - withdrawn by Air France - which was dismantled in Knock, Ireland. "
Last week, for the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, an Airbus A380 was taken out of Teruel. The G-XLEA, British Airways' oldest Airbus A380, was taken out of storage just before annual maintenance. Although this shows the commitment of some to the huge aircraft, unfortunately, it does not indicate the beginning of a trend.
With the departure of G-XLEA, another 21 aircraft are stored in Teruel. The number will return to 22 with the arrival of D-AIMH. As such, Teruel will have 12 of Lufthansa's A380 aircraft in storage, with two more being stored in Tarbes. They are joined by two Airbus A380 British Airways, two A380 Air France and six Etihad aircraft.