I live near O'hare Airport in Chicago.
This evening I was outside looking at the sky from my deck when I noticed a large aircraft after it had taken off. Upon closer inspection I determined it was a Airbus A380.
I was surprised to see one, I don't recall the A380 using O'hare in the past.

Several years ago my family took a trip to Thailand. We flew from Chicago to Dubai on a 777 because Emirates did not fly the A380 from Chicago. Leaving Dubai to Thailand we did fly a A380, the same as the return trip.
I have read several reports that the A380 fleet has been grounded almost entirely over the last few years by most airlines that own them.

I know there are many air enthusiasts on this forum so I thought I would ask here.
Is the A380 coming out of mothballs.

I've been watching them, and others, on ADSB since the covid pandemic-scam started.

Most of the A380's got parked and some prepared for scrapping when air travel collapsed. It was believed that they'd never fly again. That has proved to be not correct. Yes they came out of mothballs.

I've now noticed in the last 4 or 5 months that there are a LOT of them flying. I'm seeing airlines that I didn't know had any A380's and now they're up turned hydrocarbons into noise and thrust.

Right now at this moment there are 12 in the air to/from the Continental US States, 1 to Hawaii, and 2 to/from Canada. There are usually 1 or 2 in the air to/from Australia but none right this moment. Even china has some flights a couple times a week to LAX. I did notice a few days ago O'hare and that did surprise me. I get this info on Flight Aware dot com. Right now Flight Aware shows 43 in the air. The whole entire fleet is not a whole lot more than that. A few did get scrapped.

It's a big sucker, and not a pretty airplane IMO, but it is quite a people-hauler.

Takes a LOT of money to get one in the air from Point A to Point B, it's all economics.
.

Flying Guppy.
Never been on a 380, but find the 777 a prettier plane & have flown on a few.

quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:
Right now at this moment there are 12 in the air to/from the Continental US States, 1 to Hawaii, and 2 to/from Canada. There are usually 1 or 2 in the air to/from Australia but none right this moment. Even china has some flights a couple times a week to LAX. I did notice a few days ago O'hare and that did surprise me. I get this info on Flight Aware dot com. Right now Flight Aware shows 43 in the air. The whole entire fleet is not a whole lot more than that. A few did get scrapped.
.

The number produced for service is supposedly 251, so that's a whole lot more than 43. Wiki (for what it's worth) says 239 are still in service.

The Covid pundits all said the A-380 was dead. And it sure looked like it in 2020 - there were lines of them parked in Dubai, Sydney, Singapore and Incheon.

But air travel has rebounded faster than the pundits predicted and the A-380s are back flying. Emirates is flying a few but all they have are A-380s and 777s. I've recently seen an Air France and Korean Air 380 moving.

Anecdotal evidence for sure, but the 380 parking lots from two years ago are not nearly as full.

Except the Emirates one at Dubai World - that place is full of A-380s. Not because they don't want to fly them - they can't recruit any pilots.

My nephew spent many years of his life at the Broughton Airbus factory helping to build the wings for the A380. He's 6 feet tall, and can easily stand up in the wing root section. Watching them being manoeuvred onto the transporters to go over to Toulouse is a wonder to behold. Only watching a C5 under construction comes close.

Imagine having the wings built in one factory, and then sending them to Vancouver Island to be attached to the fuselage......

Problem with the 380 is that it hauls so many people that many airports cannot handle that many people off-planing at once.

Flying in a 380 is real high on my bucket list, and for while I thought I had missed the boat.

British Airways is bringing them back, so is Lufthansa (see linked articles). I'm hoping to fly on Lufthansa using United miles as they're both in Star Alliance.

https://airwaysmag.com/lufthansa-a380-summer-2023/

https://airwaysmag.com/british-airways-bring-a380/

If someone spots the 2023 Lufthansa 380 routes please let me know! Email is in my profile.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Sigmund,

On March 27, 2022, Boston (BOS), Chicago (ORD), Vancouver (YVR), and Washington, D.C. (IAD) will be added to British Air A380 route network, joining Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), Miami (MIA), and San Francisco (SFO), which was previously announced.

^ IAH had an A380 gate with dual height boarding ramps.
It was at the end of Terminal D, IIRC.

I read that the A380s were mothballed during Covid, but have been coming back as air travel has picked up.

The only A380 into O'Hare is flown by BA coming in from London.

The fleet was being mothballed before Covid but the demand afterwards brought them back. The entire industry is trying to cope with the resurgence and more importantly, with all the planes that Russia kept on their side of the Iron Curtain since the latest sanctions went into effect. If we get all the Boeings and Airbuses back from Russia, I'm sure we can drop the 380s from service.

news clip on the number of planes russia has

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzG-q8-zWuc

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Dave Bean,

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
^ IAH had an A380 gate with dual height boarding ramps.
It was at the end of Terminal D, IIRC.

That is correct…Lufthansa used to bring it in. I just wonder if they will start that A380 service to IAH again…

quote:

Originally posted by Sigmund:
British Airways is bringing them back, so is Lufthansa (see linked articles). I'm hoping to fly on Lufthansa using United miles as they're both in Star Alliance.

Done that, went from SFO-FRA in '17.
Big aircraft, lots and lots of people, boarding took forever. SFO is a UAL hub however we went with Lufthansa as UAL's 747's were in their twilight and I wanted to fly the 380 as there was already rumblings of its demise then. Wasn't horrible but, just A LOT of people. Lufthansa does a good job, nothing outstanding but, functionally solid.

It was a treat to see a BA 380 on final into DFW. We see plenty of 747’s hauling cargo, so when the news article recently dropped announcing the routes return, I took a drive out to the viewing plaza. Like clockwork, plan to see the arrival 530pm-6pm.

quote:

Originally posted by erj_pilot:

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
^ IAH had an A380 gate with dual height boarding ramps.
It was at the end of Terminal D, IIRC.

That is correct…Lufthansa used to bring it in. I just wonder if they will start that A380 service to IAH again…

My office is below the left traffic departure path, to the south, right off BW8/JFK.
Watching the 380 & 747 depart on a heavy overcast day nets a great low pass

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
^ IAH had an A380 gate with dual height boarding ramps.
It was at the end of Terminal D, IIRC.

That reminded me of the Inaugural flight of Hawaiian Airlines' first Airbus 320 from Honolulu to Phoenix. The 320, at least all the ones I've been on, board from a hatch behind 1st Class, not the one in front of it.

Anyway, we got to Phoenix, stopped and everyone got up and got their stuff and prepared to disembark. We stood there 15 minutes and finally I asked a Flight Attendant what the problem was.

She said that the people running the jetway at Phoenix didn't realize they had to put the jetway at the hatch behind first class and were trying to get it repositioned.

Since then, they get it right every time.

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
^ IAH had an A380 gate with dual height boarding ramps.
It was at the end of Terminal D, IIRC.

That reminded me of the Inaugural flight of Hawaiian Airlines' first Airbus 320 from Honolulu to Phoenix. The 320, at least all the ones I've been on, board from a hatch behind 1st Class, not the one in front of it.

Anyway, we got to Phoenix, stopped and everyone got up and got their stuff and prepared to disembark. We stood there 15 minutes and finally I asked a Flight Attendant what the problem was.

She said that the people running the jetway at Phoenix didn't realize they had to put the jetway at the hatch behind first class and were trying to get it repositioned.

Since then, they get it right every time.

Can't have the peasants traipsing through the premium seats.
Disclaimer: Never flown up front, always in slum class.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5
Can't have the peasants traipsing through the premium seats.
Disclaimer: Never flown up front, always in slum class.

Of course not. They might bump your elbow and make you spill your boarding drink on your personal meal menu.

Don't knock First class unless you've tried it a few times.

quote:

Originally posted by armored:
I live near O'hare Airport in Chicago.

You're so lucky to live so close to the airport and get to see (and hear) all the cool planes.