Another major airline retires the Airbus A380 jumbo Double decker is too expensive, inefficient

The giant Airbus A380 has only been flying since 2009, but will be no longer be made after 2021. The giant Airbus A380 has only been flying since 2009, but will be no longer be made after 2021. Photo: Eric Piermont, AFP/Getty Images Photo: Eric Piermont, AFP/Getty Images Image 1 of / 15 Caption Close Another major airline retires the Airbus A380 jumbo 1 / 15 Back to Gallery

This week Air France announced that it will retire its fleet of Airbus A380 double deckers by 2022 instead of making a significant investment to update them. The carrier said that it will now focus its long haul fleet growth on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and the Airbus A350.

In a statement, the airline said: "The current competitive environment limits the markets in which the A380 can profitably operate. With four engines, the A380 consumes 20-25% more fuel per seat than new generation long-haul aircraft, and therefore emits more CO2. Increasing aircraft maintenance costs, as well as necessary cabin refurbishments to meet customer expectations reduce the economic attractiveness of Air France's A380s even further. Keeping this aircraft in the fleet would involve significant costs, while the aircraft program was suspended by Airbus earlier in 2019."

The Air France A380 has nine first class seats, 80 business class seats, 38 in premium economy and 389 in regular economy. Among frequent travelers, Air France's A380 fell out of favor when the carrier failed to update its old-school angled business class seats with a true lie-flat version. The airline had to discount its business class seats to be able to compete with airlines offering the more comfortable 180-degree lie-flat option.

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At SFO, Air France currently flies a mix of Airbus A380s and Boeing 777s on its summer nonstops to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport. This winter it will switch to B777 service only, but the A380 will return for the 2020 summer season.

Deal Alert! Air France fares between SFO and Paris are cheap right now for fall flights-- as low as $387 in basic economy, $515 in regular economy.

Air France put the A380 into service in 2009, and brought it to SFO in 2011 — check out the video I made of its arrival, which included a water salute and views from the ramp.

This is another in an increasingly long list of airlines that are phasing out the A380. Due to lack of interest among airlines now focused on smaller, more efficient long-haul jets, Airbus announced in February that it will stop making the A380 in 2021.

Have you flown on an A380? What did you think? Will you be sad to see it fly away? Tell us what you think in THE COMMENTS.

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Chris McGinnis is the founder of TravelSkills.com. The author is solely responsible for the content above, and it is used here by permission. You can reach Chris at chris@travelskills.com or on Twitter @cjmcginnis.