Three Airbus A380 aircraft will soon be dismantled. The parts from these aircraft are still in high demand and are needed to keep operational planes airworthy.
These include two Airbus A380 that previously flew for Lufthansa, with registrations D-AIME and D-AIMF, and a former Malaysia Airlines aircraft, registration 9M-MNC. These planes were taken out of service in 2020 during covid and have not flown since.
The dismantling of the aircraft will be carried out by VAS Aero Services, a part of the Airbus Group, in collaboration with Tarmac Aerosave. The German Superjumbos are parked at Teruel Airport in Spain, while the Malaysian example is stored at Tarbes Airport in France. It is assumable that the A380 aircraft will be dismantled at their current locations.
Long-haul
The high demand for A380 parts is partly due to the resurgence of long-haul flights and delays in the delivery of new long-haul jets, such as the Boeing 777-9. When covid grounded global air traffic in 2020, almost all flights concerning Superjumbos were canceled. However, in the summer of 2022, the demand for long-haul flights surprisingly increased sharply.
The delays in the delivery of new long-haul aircraft, however, caused problems for various airlines, including Lufthansa. Therefore, several companies decided to put some A380s back into service. Due to the discontinued production of the aircraft and the unexpected return of many A380s, a shortage of parts arose. To date, twenty two of the A380 jets have already been scrapped, ten of which by VAS Aero Services.