British Airways signs extension for A380s to remain

British Airways has signed a contract extension with its maintenance company for its 12 Airbus A380 jets to fly for another few years, while the aircraft continues to phase out elsewhere.

Lufthansa Technik (LHT), a subsidiary to Lufthansa Group, provides maintenance, completion and repair for BA’s aircraft and tweeted that it will continue to support the A380s at its Manila base.

The contract has been extended for a minimum of five years starting August 2022 – to 2027 earliest – and the A380 aircraft will fly to the Philippines for maintenance.

Dave Exon, director of engineering at British Airways, said in a statement released on Thursday: “Safety is at the heart of everything we do.

“We’re delighted to extend our existing A380 base maintenance contract with Lufthansa Technik as a result of the continued excellent standards of service provided by Lufthansa Technik Philippines.”

CEO of Lufthansa Technik Philippines, Elmar Lutter, added the company is proud to maintain its relationship with British Airways.

“We remain committed to servicing the A380 in the foreseeable future,” he said.

LHT will manage the aircraft via AVIATAR, its digital operations suite that tracks and co-ordinates the aircraft checks, providing real-time information where users can check the jets status.

The European planemaker’s A380 jumbo jet has slowly begun phasing out of many airline’s fleets.

In Europe, British Airways remains the last nation to maintain its A380s, as Lufthansa and Air France both retired its aircraft last year.

iflyA380, an Airbus owned website recording what airlines operate the jet, reported that British Airways flies the aircraft to nine destinations, predominately the US, and Hong Kong and Singapore.

Lufthansa, before retiring its A380s, was flying to the United States, but also numerous Asian regions such as Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul and Singapore.

The wide-body aircraft was the largest passenger airliner being manufactured, but on 14 February in 2019, Airbus announced it would no longer produce the jet after 2021 following low demand.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, airlines around the globe have grounded, and ultimately retired, their A380s, as the unprecedented drop in demand for long-haul air travel has decimated cash flow.

Airbus chief executive Guilluame Faury said in a webcast in May the aerospace industry was estimating how long before it would record pre-pandemic traffic levels.

Faury said he estimated 2024, but it would take longer for wide-body aircraft to return.

“We think on the single-aisle business, on the narrow-body planes, it is probably going to be around 2023, and for the wide-body planes around 2024, 2025: We don’t really know.”