Originally Posted by
OnceBitten
The thing is QF own their 380s, and now they have been able to fully depreciate them. I find it hard NOT to see them, well at least the 6 refurbed ones coming back.
The post COVID international flying will probably be almost all point-to-point flying as this would present the least risk of infection compared to travelling via hub ports.
The A380 is an aircraft designed to operate between hubs and is too large to be used cost effectively on P2P routes. As it is an aircraft with a huge fuel burn (per seat km) and higher maintenance costs than other types that are available, it would be difficult to bring it back into service - despite the fact that six of them have had an expensive upgrade of the upper deck.
If it is decided to not bring the A380's back into service, some of the upgrade costs could be salvaged by removing all of the new Business & Premium Economy seats from them and fitting them to new B787's or A350's that would be ordered in the future for the P2P routes.