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British Airways has an A380 problem

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Airline operations are finely tuned: not much has to go wrong before things quickly fall apart.

For British Airways, the struggle this past summer has been aircraft availability: specifically, its fleet of long haul aircraft. Delayed deliveries from both Airbus and Boeing as well as an ambitious summer flying program mean the airline has been stretched thin and has fewer aircraft on standby than it would perhaps like.

It’s no help that BA’s A380 fleet has been particularly unreliable since it was brought back out of storage following covid.

BA flies the A380 on eight routes to Boston, Dallas Fort Worth, Johannesburg; Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco, Singapore and Washington DC.

British Airways has an A380 problem

With a fleet of 12, BA is one of the largest remaining A380 operators: only Emirates (116) and Singapore (17) have more. Still, 12 is next to none and means there are no spares in case things go wrong. Every A380 needs to be flying, every day.

Unfortunately for both British Airways and its passengers, this isn’t happening. Severe reliability issues have plagued the aircraft since it returned to service in 2021. Two weeks ago, as many as four were out of action at the same time.

3.94% of all British Airways flights scheduled to be operated by the A380 have either been cancelled or operated by alternative aircraft since 1st July, according to my DIY calculations via Flightradar24. In other words almost 1 in 25 flights is cancelled or replaced.

The route most affected by cancellations or aircraft replacements is Washington, with BA prioritising its longest services to Johannesburg, Los Angeles and Singapore.

A particularly embarrassing event earlier this month was when an A380 returned from two and a half months of maintenance in Manila only to go out of service the following day, having flown just two flights.

This has severely tested BA’s operational teams as they scramble to find replacements for the 469-seat behemoth. Even the largest remaining aircraft in the fleet are over 100 seats shy of the superjumbo.

The issues aren’t a new occurrence. A FlyerTalk thread titled “The trouble with the A380 lately” dates back to April 2023 and now numbers 61 pages, with regular complaints about flight delays and cancellations due to engineering issues.

Whilst its clear these problems have been going on for a while, the past summer has really pushed BA’s fleet to its limit. In early September, two out of seven return flights to Miami were cancelled in a single week.

So what’s the problem? After all, other airlines that operate the A380 haven’t had the same issues.

I think we can pin it down to three issues: a niche fleet, limited redundancy and extended storage.

Extended storage

Let’s work our way backwards, starting with extended storage.

Aircraft are not designed to be stored. They are designed to fly regularly, and this keeps all their systems going in the same way that you might struggle to run a 10k after spending weeks as a couch potato.

Planes are particularly fussy, however. The best location for storage over extended periods is somewhere dry, which is why you’ll find the biggest aircraft boneyards in deserts in places like Arizona and Alice Springs in Australia. Closer to home, Spain’s hot and relatively dry climate offers a good spot to park a plane.

British Airways has an A380 problem

Moisture and humidity are the enemies of long-term storage and can cause condensation and corrosion.

Storing an A380 is even trickier. For a start, there are a limited number of airports you can fly them to simply due to runway length. You also need enough space to be able to park them out of the way.

When the covid pandemic first hit, British Airways decided to park the majority of its fleet at an airport in Châteauroux, central France. With an average annual rainfall of 796mm, it is not exactly the Kalahari. In fact, it’s wetter than Heathrow which experiences ‘only’ 618mm of rain per year.

Small fleet & limited redundancy

…. are an issue, both at an aircraft and parts level.

With the A380 out of production – and in any case a niche programme with only 251 ever made – getting spare parts can be a challenge.

If a Boeing 787 breaks down it’s less of an issue. With over 1,100 in operation, spare parts are readily available all around the world. This is not the case for the A380, particularly as the supply chain is dominated by Emirates which operates many more than every other airline combined.

Redundancy is also an issue at the fleet level.

BA only has a handful of A380s. In the grand scheme of things, 12 aircraft is nothing. When one (or two, or three, or four) aircraft are out of action, there are not many other aircraft left to cover.

This is particularly acute for A380 operations. An A350 or Boeing 777 can be more easily replaced like-for-like as these aircraft are in broadly similar size categories and specced with a similar number of seats.

No such luck on the A380: the next largest aircraft in BA’s fleet are more than 100 seats short. Even if you substitute a Boeing 777-300ER you’ll still leave a sizeable number of passengers at the airport.

Unfortunately, BA doesn’t have a spare A380 waiting in the wings at Heathrow for its moment to shine: doing so would be far too expensive for a fleet of this size.

Not enough pilots

Although not mechanical, another issue plaguing the A380 is lack of flight crew.

The pool of pilots at BA able to fly the A380 is limited and was whittled down during covid, when many A380-rated pilots switched to the A350. UK law does not allow pilots to operate more than one aircraft type.

This has left relatively few pilots able to operate the aircraft. Pilots are only legally allowed to fly for 900 hours per 12 month period. After 35 return flights to San Francisco you’re off to the golf course.

Whilst BA has ramped up pilot recruitment and is now funding training for 200 future pilots, it will be years until numbers stabilise. A global pilot shortage also means it cannot simply recruit from elsewhere.

Due to the strict rules governing working hours for flight and cabin crew, even a delay of a few hours can push them out-of-ours and require an entirely new crew to operate. As you can see, even simple mechanical failures could have serious knock-on effects.

British Airways BA A380 flying

Things are getting better

The good news is that the pressure on BA’s long haul fleet is easing. Schedules over the winter typically feature more slack, making it easier to recover from any aircraft outages.

There are other reasons to be positive. British Airways will add additional aircraft to its fleet, allowing more redundancy. This includes the delivery of BA’s tenth Boeing 787-10 as well as the expected return of an A350 that was damaged in a ground collision in April

An Airbus Beluga made a rare landing at Heathrow last week to deliver spare parts for the carbon-fibre jet, which makes it challenging to repair versus conventional metal aircraft.

Shortage of aircraft may also be one of the reasons why the BA Club Suite refit program has slowed over the summer, as all hands (tailfins) were on deck to deliver the schedule. With a slower winter, perhaps we will see these resume on the Boeing 787-8s.

Whether or not BA can turn a corner on its A380s remains to be seen, but a less intense winter flying schedule should help, with more time on the ground to fix and service aircraft.

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Comments (152)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • jp-mco says:
    19 Sep19 September 13:40

    I think articles like this really showcase the best of Head for Points. Interesting and analytical. Really enjoyable read Rhys!

  • SYM says:
    19 Sep19 September 14:26

    Ah, I have a a 241 adios Club world Flight to SIN booked for next week on a A380, Should I be worried? Any tips on what I should do to maximise compensation and minimise the stress if a cancelation occurs. I do have Amex platinum and can pay for a separate hotel and flight if needed or is it best to take the free options they provide

    • Rob says:
      19 Sep19 September 14:38

      If BA offers you a reroute within a few hours then you are realistically obliged to accept. If you are looking at 6+ hours and BA refuse to put you on SQ (and realistically only a handful of people could be rerouted on SQ) then you need to decide whether paying £10k for two last minute J tickets on Singapore, and reclaiming the money in court, is a process you are willing to begin.

      • SYM says:
        19 Sep19 September 14:45

        Thanks Rob. Assume SQ = Singapore airlines. Would they reroute on Singapore airline business equivalent too? Generally is it viable to actually get the 10K back in that situation?

        • Rob says:
          19 Sep19 September 14:52

          The BA game plan is to tell you that there are no seats for 2-3 days and so you’re stuffed. They won’t offer SQ because they have to pay for it even though they are legally liable to reroute you on whatever you want.

          Your only choice will be to pay cash and then sue under EC261 – which you are guaranteed to win because the regulations say you must be rerouted ASAP irrespective of carrier and of cost.

          Zero chance of getting the money without a trip to court. Zero chance of losing once you’re in court.

          • Mark says:
            19 Sep19 September 15:22

            Hi Rob, would appreciate your opinion on this.

            I had Avios booking LHR-SFO booked in A380 Club World in Feb on a Thursday afternoon. At the gate the flight was cancelled. As usual agents told us to check “manage booking”. Only alternative offered was the next day 11am flight downgraded to Economy. Could not accept that as the flight was getting in too late Friday and had commitments at lunchtime in SFO. Bought new Premium Economy tickets for that evening with VS with a 6 hour stop in JFK . Arrived in SFO  just in time for commitments at around 12pm. Submitted a claim to BA and they rejected alternative transport claim (they did provide a partial refund for outbound and compensation element EU261, but was still left on the hook for over £3000 for new flights). Took them to CEDR and they rejected alternative claims too, based on the fact that I only arrived a few hours before the alternative flight (not even mentioning the downgrade cabin offered) and those few hours could not be considered significant to make alternative travel arrangements. CEDR spotted a refund mistake with the Avios that was refunded and the outcome was just to correct that. I accepted the outcome as I believed I had no alternative (and wanted at least the spotted Avios back). Seems like based on comments it was an incorrect judgment. 

            Can anything be salvaged? All help appreciated

          • Mark says:
            19 Sep19 September 15:25

            Thank you for this article, very intresting and informative

          • SYM says:
            19 Sep19 September 15:32

            Am I obliged to accept the BA Reroute if the alternative flight is a lower cabin within a few hours? If it’s 6+ and they do not offer a reroute I essentially go ahead a book a flight that suits me, which airline has the best LHR to SIN business flights lol!?

          • PB884 says:
            19 Sep19 September 16:02

            Interesting. So your business flight to SIN is cancelled by BA with 2hr notice. You call up – state your right is to be rebooked ASAP on any carrier – and they would really maintain a flight in 3 days meets that requirement, despite multiple other carrier options being available? So out of need/desperation you book that £10k flight with Singapore for cash. When you claim for it, re-stating your rights, BA would reject based on what? Or simply not give a reason to see if you will take it to court? Amazing to think they would treat their premium customers in such a way.

          • Numpty says:
            19 Sep19 September 17:53

            Compare that to my recent experience when travelling with Singapore Airlines; inbound flight was late meaning we would miss the connecting long haul flight to FRA. At the end of airbridge staff were waiting for the connecting passengers with new boarding cards, based on an entirely different route home and included them providing a domestic connecting flight on BA. I had been expecting to wait at Changi for the next more direct flight 12 hours later. In the end, got home almost at the original time, however BA lost some of our bags at LHR.

          • pigeon says:
            20 Sep20 September 09:43

            You’ve got to be a little careful about the court route — inevitably they would have offered you something (eg one stop via Doha with a 8 hour layover) and the call centre agents can be evasive rather than outright saying no sometimes.

            It’s one thing if they suggest BA in 2 days time, you say no, immediately hang up without asking for alternatives and book SQ. it’s another if you’ve called back 3 times and getting nowhere.

            The legislation is a bit vague in that it requires rebooking under “comparable” conditions “at the soonest opportunity”. Does that mean they need to procure a private jet to secure the soonest opportunity? Probably not.

      • Nick says:
        19 Sep19 September 23:39

        The airport will put you on SQ if there’s space available and SQ are willing to accept more passengers. It’s about asking the right people for the right thing – so ask a lounge/checkin agent to call ARC who will do this with no problem. The agent you speak to is unable to, and technically the call centre you can speak to yourself shouldn’t, although a few agents there do anyway. Chances are however that SQ services will also be very busy so might not have space.

    • blue_wolf says:
      20 Sep20 September 05:17

      BA rebooked me onto an SQ flight home in J even though I booked our Club flights with a 2-4-1. No mention or issue about the fact it was a reward booking.

      https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/2166876-ba12-delayed-tomorrow-after-faulty-anti-icing-system.html

  • jannis says:
    19 Sep19 September 17:16

    In this case, why not get rid of those to emirates

    • Peter K says:
      19 Sep19 September 21:45

      Because they don’t have enough long haul planes anyway so they can’t manage if they lose 12 of their biggest. They won’t be able to buy enough replacement aircraft with the money gained to make good.

  • Wally1976 says:
    19 Sep19 September 18:05

    Just looking at the two SIN-LHR flights on 16th August (we’re booked on the later one) and they’re listed as a B787 and a B777. Are the A380s being taken off this route?

    • Rhys says:
      19 Sep19 September 18:26

      Next summer? I wouldn’t hold too much stock in what is being flown next August, BA have only just confirmed the Winter schedule! That being said, the refurbishment of the A380s is scheduled to start next summer.

  • ChasP says:
    19 Sep19 September 18:11

    Good article – more please

    I do have one small query I gather the % of A380s still flying is less than 60% so surely there are are lot of spare parts (%wise) around; much higher than for the latest 7×7
    of course the parts may already have been snapped up by better run carriers

  • NorthernLass says:
    19 Sep19 September 20:02

    Didn’t I fly to DXB on a A380 last December? I was sitting upstairs, anyway, and it was delayed over 3 hours departing due to technical issues, which kind of suggests it was, in fact!

  • M says:
    19 Sep19 September 20:25

    They should really run these a380s to Jeddah

  • MT says:
    20 Sep20 September 00:51

    I’m hoping BA keep A380 off SIN next summer. Atleast in the winter schedule you can choose the 777 if Club Suite is important to you, not ideal if both planes next summer at Club World

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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