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Air France retires Airbus A380 fleet amid cost concerns

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Air France retires Airbus A380 fleet amid cost concerns
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Air France Airbus A380 | Official Website

Air France operated a fleet of 10 Airbus A380s, with the first aircraft joining in 2009 and the last in 2014. The airline launched its A380 revenue service from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to New York's JFK Airport in November 2009. However, Air France was not particularly enthusiastic about the superjumbo due to high operational costs and environmental concerns. Plans were already in place to retire some of these aircraft before the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated their permanent retirement by early 2020.

The airline replaced its A380s with more efficient twin-engine aircraft like the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787-9. During its operation period from 2009 to 2020, Air France was ranked as the fifth-largest user of the A380 globally, offering 21.1 million roundtrip seats. This represented just over five percent of the world's total available seats for this aircraft type during that time.

Air France's A380s had a four-class configuration, including nine first class seats, 80 business class seats, 38 premium economy seats, and 389 economy seats. The aircraft served a total of 18 destinations from Paris CDG. Notably, New York JFK received the most services with over two million seats provided.

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Among these destinations were notable one-off flights to Cancun and Rio de Janeiro for special occasions such as anniversaries and the Summer Olympics. Crew training flights also took place on short routes like Paris CDG to London Heathrow—a mere distance of 188 nautical miles each way.

The decision to operate such short flights was driven by crew training needs rather than commercial demand. The route between Paris CDG and Abidjan stood out due to its strong premium demand and high average fares between Paris and Africa.

Organizations Included in this History
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