Plane travel, coronavirus: Grounded Airbus A380 fleet remobilised as British Airways reconsiders superjumbos

BRITISH AIRWAYS appears to be granting its fleet of giant Airbus A380 jets a stay of execution following the superjumbos' grounding when coronavirus was at its most fierce.

The airline put 12 of the giant aircraft into storage at a French airfield as the pandemic caused demand for air travel to collapse, raising questions about whether such large aircraft would be needed again. However, flight tracking data reveals that one by one BA has been flying the jets back to Heathrow for maintenance, while two have gone to the Philippines for major overhauls.

Last month BA retired its 31-strong fleet of Boeing 747s with immediate effect because of worries about filling them with enough passengers to make them cost-effective. Saj Ahmad, chief analyst at StrategicAero Research, said: "BA has just taken out masses of capacity by retiring its 747s in one swoop, and if there is a sudden resurgence in demand then they will have nothing to backfill without the A380s."

Other airlines have abandoned the A380 in the wake of coronavirus. Air France said in May it would phase out its A380s two years ahead of their planned 2022 retirement.

Even before Covid-19 struck, Singapore Airlines had started handing back its A380s to their owners as leases expired, with the jets then scrapped.

The developments came as ADS, the trade body which represents the UK aerospace industry, warned that a quarter of British jobs in the sector are now at risk as demand for aircraft collapses in the fallout of coronavirus. At the start of the year, the industry employed 114,000 staff but since the pandemic hit 14,800 roles have been eliminated or are being considered for redundancy.

A further 17,000 positions have been furloughed and are seen as being at risk of going, according to ADS.

"While parts of the economy are starting to recover, aerospace will take significantly longer to return to previous levels of activity," said Paul Everitt, chief executive of the trade group. "The Government should work with industry to put in place a long-term capital fund that gives suppliers the finance they need to survive, boost investment in green aerospace technology, and use the power of public procurement to help industry through the crisis."

Union Unite is calling for the job retention scheme to be extended for the sector in light of its likely slower recovery, along with "short-time working" schemes and income tax holidays.