On New Year's Eve the plane still flew passengers around the world. But flight AF111 from Shanghai to Paris was the last mission of the Airbus A380 with the serial number 040. Air France returned it to the lessor Dr. Peters Group at the turn of the year.
The aircraft with the registration number F-HPJB was transferred to Dresden on 2 January. It no longer sported Air France's tri-colour livery but was painted all white. The almost eleven-year-old Airbus A380 is being readied for its future at Elbe Flugzeugwerke.
Unclear future
What that future looks like, however, is unclear. Dr Peters has not yet announced what will happen to the Airbus A380. It might be leased to a new airline, temporarily mothballed or gutted for spare parts.
The German financing company has already had a first A380 dismantled. In November, the disassembly into reusable individual parts was finished after around eleven months of work. In the meantime, large parts of the fuselage of the superjumbo with the serial number 003 have also been dismantled.
All the A380s to be gone by 2024?
Air France announced this July that it would gradually retire all the A380s from its fleet. The process should be completed as early as 2023 or 2024.
Air France returns its first Airbus A380 to lessor
The Air France livery is already gone.
It is unclear what will happen to the plane now.
It might be leased to another airline, temporarily mothballed or dismantled.
