Between MSN 001 and MSN 004 there were over 20,000 production modifications. An object lesson in the pitfalls of concurrent engineering and the procurement lead design freeze requirements.
MSN 004was a basket case, originally used as an engine test platform and was scheduled for modification as a VVIP platform, however, any form of continued airworthiness would have required an entire specialized dept to support that particular white elephant.
The early production models and the aircraft taken as post flight test aircraft on lease by SIA were in this batch. SIA and the leasing company both generated a profit. Ipso facto, applying the 20 year design life and in service rule to these early aircraft implies that the airfames and processes were mature at the inception of the entry into service, which is not the case. Also, it was over two years late for entry into service. I still have my SIA ‘A380 EIS 2006’ coffee mug. Ironic maybe, but by this stage, the panic button in Aibus central had been hammered into the table and the launch customer was having a sense of humour failure.
There is a secondary market for A380’s, provided they’re not early production mod’ standard airframes, expensive refits notwithstanding, the low cost mass transport options and hadj options are already on the table.
To paraphrase Mark Twain: ‘The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated’