Only British Airways and ANA surpass pre-pandemic Airbus A380 flight numbers

On its website, British Airways describes the benefits of operating the superjumbo: "[The Airbus A380] is the world's largest commercial passenger aircraft, and the upper deck extends along the entire length of the fuselage. It is also one of the greenest, with lower community noise and emissions per passenger than the Boeing 747-400, despite having almost 50% more floor space and 60% more headroom."

All Nippon Airways (ANA), while being listed as the smallest regular operator of scheduled A380 flights by Cirium both in 2019 and now, has significantly increased its use of these aircraft. ANA scheduled just 558 A380 flights in 2019 but has planned for a total of 1,282 such flights this year—a rise of nearly 130%. In terms of capacity offered on these routes, ANA’s scheduled seats have grown from about 290,160 to over 666,640 between those years.

ANA deploys its three distinctive turtle-liveried A380s exclusively on routes connecting Tokyo Narita Airport with Honolulu International Airport. The current schedule features two round trips daily between these cities.

Both airlines plan to keep their A380 fleets active for several years through cabin upgrades or because their aircraft are relatively young compared to other fleet members. British Airways’ twelve A380s average about eleven years old and are set for interior refurbishments that include new first class cabins. "These refurbishments will bring the aircraft in line with the most modern jets in BA's fleet as far as their cabins go," according to details provided by BA.

ANA’s three superjumbos are younger still at an average age of around six-and-a-half years and feature seating across four classes: eight first class seats; fifty-six business; seventy-three premium economy; and three hundred eighty-three economy seats.

The Airbus A380 program delivered a total of two hundred fifty-one units from production sites such as Toulouse before ending deliveries in December twenty twenty-one.