TYPES OF EUROPEAN AIRLINES STOPPED IN 2020
British Airways: Boeing 747-400
In July, British Airways announced the immediate closure of its entire fleet of Boeing 747-400s, totaling 31 aircraft, in March.
Cirium's fleet data shows that BA and its predecessor BOAC ended up operating 110,747 (including seven crewed leases) in an era that spanned five decades. BOAC was an early adopter of the "jumbo jet" philosophy, commissioning 12 aircraft (plus four options) in August 1966, just months after Boeing launched the 747.
Although the airline began reducing its fleet to -400 passengers since 2008, until the Coronavirus pandemic, it intends to keep the jumbo jet until 2024. The goal is for the large jets to eventually be replaced by a combination of next-generation widebody. , including the Airbus A350, Boeing 787. and 777-9.
In October, the last pair of 747-400s from BA, London-based Heathrow, made an air flight and final flight, from the airline's engineering base in Cardiff to their new home at eCube Solutions in the Valley of Glamorgan in South Wales, took place on December 11.
Virgin Atlantic: Boeing 747-400, Airbus A340-600
British long-haul carrier Virgin Atlantic Airways recalled its last Boeing 747-400 in December. The last aircraft, to be transferred to Atlas Air, left Virgin's fleet on December 21, departing London Heathrow for Las Vegas.
Virgin has used more than 30 747s, of various variants, since it leased its first aircraft, the 747-200B, in May 1984. Initially delivered to Aerolineas Argentinas eight years earlier, it later became one of 28 Virgin 747s that They are listed on the British Register.
Fourteen of these 28 aircraft are -200 models, while one is a former American Airlines 747-100 dating from 1970. Virgin is modernizing its fleet with 13 747-400s, but also taking advantage of short-term leases of other models, including a 747-300 from Icelandic Atlanta Water.
Virgin Atlantic is phasing out its four-engine Airbus A340s and 747s to replace the twin-engine Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 that are already in operation with the airline, and the A330neo that will arrive from 2022.
In March, the airline abruptly shut down the remaining three Airbus A340-600s after the pandemic, ending nearly three decades of operation of the four-engine Airbus wide-body aircraft, which began in 1993 with the smaller A340-300.
Air France: Airbus A380
When the crisis hit in March, Air France first canceled its fleet of Airbus A380s, before announcing two months later that it had decided not to return the type to service.
This marked an accelerated end to the French carrier fleet type. Before the pandemic, airlines had begun recalling their first A380s as part of a three-year retirement plan for their ten fleets. The first aircraft entered storage at Ireland West Airport near Knock on February 20 under maintenance by Eirtrade Aviation.
KLM: Boeing 747-400
At the same time, the Boeing 747 belonging to sister airline Air France KLM made its last passenger flight in March this year, nearly two years before its pre-crisis retirement date in late 2021.
Despite the unexpected respite for two of the 747-400 Combi jets, which were put back into service to transport medical equipment from China, KLM CEO Pieter Elbers told FlightGlobal in late November: "Now the 747 is outside of KLM ". At the time of the decision to discontinue the type on March 16 as the airlift crisis escalated, KLM operated seven jumbos, a mix of passenger and combined jets, and had one more in storage, according to fleet data from Cirium.
Iberia: Airbus A340
In August, Iberia made its last scheduled Airbus A340 flight. Spanish aircraft carriers began operating the A340-300s in 1996, deploying the type on routes to America. That includes flight number 13 from Madrid to Santiago, which was the longest route on its network until it continued with flights from Tokyo in 2016.
The airline expanded its fleet with the A340-600 in 2003.
At the beginning of the crisis, the then CEO of IAG, Willie Walsh, indicated that the group would accelerate the retirement of 16 Airbus A340s from Iberia. This type has been replaced by the A350-900, which Spanish operators came into operation in 2018.
Lufthansa: Airbus A380 and A340-600
The Lufthansa Group appears to have operated its last passenger flight on its A380 and A340-600 after it suspended the remaining samples of both types in September, only to reactivate in the event of an "unexpectedly rapid market recovery".
In August, the group permanently banned 65 planes. The aircraft consists of six A380s and five Boeing 747s, plus 11 A320s from Lufthansa's main fleet, as well as a pair of Lufthansa Cargo MD-11Fs. It was also previously announced that three units of the 767 and 13 Bombardier Q400 were retired from Austrian operations, and that Brussels Airlines would issue two chartered A330s and eight A319s, while Lufthansa's Eurowings division would retire 15 chartered Q400s.
In September it permanently destroyed seven more A340-600s. Therefore, the group has eight A380s and 10 A340-600s in long-term storage.
Hello fly: Airbus A380
Portuguese wet charter carrier Hi Fly will phase out the use of its Airbus A380 by the end of the year, ending the only such deployment in less than three years.
Hi Fly said it would suspend the planes at the end of the current lease and decided not to extend the term because the pandemic has "dramatically reduced the demand for very large planes." The A380 will be replaced by an additional A330, which Hi Fly describes as "a more suitable aircraft for current market conditions."
SAS: Airbus A340
SAS flew its last Airbus A340 in early December. Star Alliance carriers received their first A340s in the summer of 2001.
CityJet: Avro RJ / BAe146
Irish charter operator CityJet retired its last regional BAE Systems Avro RJ85 aircraft in November, ending a 27-year relationship with the type and predecessor, BAe146.
In 2016, CityJet made the decision to discontinue the 95-seat RJ85 under its fleet modernization program. The airline's last passenger flight with Avro RJ, the Dublin-London City service for Aer Lingus, took place on March 24, just before the first wave of blockades introduced in Europe to counter the global pandemic.
Baltic Air: Boeing 737
Latvian airline Air Baltic recalled the last Boeing 737 from its fleet in December and handed it over to maintenance and asset management company Magentic MRO.
Air Baltic has operated all services exclusively with Airbus A220-300s since May of this year.
Air Baltic CEO Martin Gauss said the 737s were "an essential part" of the airline's fleet since they were introduced in 2003. The airline used 20 737s during that period and said their reach enabled it to expand its network to cities such as Lisbon, Baku and Tel Aviv.
Alrosa: Tupolev Tu-154
Russia's last Tupolev Tu-154 in civilian operation made its last flight in late October, with service from Mirny to Novosibirsk.
Mirny-based aircraft carrier Alrosa flew RA-85757 on October 28. Four experienced crew members, two pilots, a navigator and a flight engineer are in the cockpit.
Alrosa said the trijet had been operating on its network since June 2002 and remained "one of the most reliable and fastest aircraft" in its fleet.
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