On Tuesday, Emirates officially retired its first A380 jumbo jet. The aircraft, registered as A6-EDB, has been in Emirates’ fleet for 12 years and completed its final flight on Oct. 27. While this retirement is not a direct causality of the COVID-19 pandemic, the once-reverenced "Eighth Wonder" is slowly withdrawing from the skies as airlines struggle to fill its seats to capacity. A6-EDB’s History and Final Flight A6-EDB was the thirteenth A380 built by Airbus and took its first flight…
Qatar Airways joins Air New Zealand and Emirates in announcing that it will halt flights to Argentina. The three airlines confirmed that operations will not be resumed to the South American country even after the restrictions for commercial flights ends. On April 24 earlier this year Air New Zealand was…
Air France and its main union, SNPL, have agreed to a restructuring that will allow Transavia France to fly domestic routes, Air France-KLM Group announced in a press release. The agreement will allow Transavia France to operate on domestic Air France flights and changes mid-range activity guarantees in line with…
India has signed bilateral flight agreements with the U.S. and France, under which airlines of each country will be allowed to operate international flights to and from India starting on Friday. “Air bubble arrangements with the U.S., the [United Arab Emirates], France & Germany are being put in place" by…
During a central social and economic committee on July 3, Air France announced a dramatic workforce restructuring plan. The company will cut 7,850 jobs including 6,560 at Air France and 1,020 at the short-haul subsidiary HOP!, equating to more than 16% of the company’s workforce. With workforce reductions, the airline…
Hit hard by the collapse of air traffic due to ongoing pandemic, Air France abruptly had to retire its entire A380 fleet in May. The aircraft will take to the skies for the last time with the Air France livery on Friday, eleven years after it entered service at the…
Air France has announced its plan to increase the number of scheduled passenger flights it will offer in the summer as it expects a rise in passenger traffic over the coming period. According to the announcement released on Friday, it will serve passenger flights to nearly 150 destinations in the…
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the fate of the A380, the world’s largest passenger plane ever built, was sealed. Most of the operators of the double-decker giant had already planned the gradual demise of the superjumbo. In February 2019, Airbus also announced it would permanently cease the production of A380…
Air France has announced it will immediately retire its Airbus A380 fleet following the impact of the COVID-19 crisis. The airline was due to retire nine A380s from its fleet by 2022, however, the French flag carrier has brought this date forward. In a statement, the airline said: "In the…
Air France has announced that it plans to gradually resume its flights between now and the end of June as demand for air travel begins to rise. The French carrier is currently operating between three and five percent of its usual schedule, which it has been doing since the end…
