Etihad Airways set to restore nearly all Airbus A380s amid growing long-haul demand

Arik De, Chief Revenue and Commercial Officer at Etihad Airways, commented on the decision: “We want more A380s back, but we don’t want to bring them if they don’t bring us money.”

Since March 2023, Etihad has gradually reactivated seven A380s that had been placed into storage during the pandemic. The airline’s renewed use of these large aircraft signals confidence in their value for high-demand long-haul routes.

This decision fits within a broader growth strategy for Etihad following recent restructuring efforts. CEO Antonoaldo Neves said at a July briefing that “the airline is on track to carry 21.5 million passengers in 2025,” which would be more than double its total from 2022.

To meet this target, Etihad expects delivery of 18 new aircraft by year-end. According to ch-aviation data, Etihad operates around 103 planes across various models besides its superjumbos.

In May 2025, during US President Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East, Etihad ordered an additional 28 aircraft—including Boeing 787s and new-generation Boeing 777X variants—adding to an order backlog of about 94 planes across Airbus and Boeing types.

The carrier mainly uses its A380s on high-traffic international routes from Abu Dhabi International Airport (its main hub), with regular flights to London Heathrow Airport (up to three daily departures), Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport, Singapore Changi Airport, and most recently Toronto Pearson International Airport—a route where capacity was increased by over thirty percent when the type was introduced there earlier this summer.

Earlier this year saw limited deployment of the superjumbo on Mumbai flights as well. Data from Cirium shows that for August alone approximately 356 scheduled A380 flights are planned—including significant frequency on London routes—and over two thousand such flights have been scheduled for the first half of 2026 across key destinations.