Wiggy,

A bit of both really. There are plenty of structural issues and repairs on the older a/c that are expensive to rectify on a D check. Also the avionics and IFE updates and Wifi fits to consider as well.

falcon

OK, fair enough.

Dockwell

TBF that story does the rounds within BA itself every X months where X is usually < 6 months.. oddly enough it usually seems to start from with the 380 community itself, can't think why :} and usually the preamble is "Willie says if he could get a good deal....." . That said I'm a great believer in "never say never" and I'm sure he wouldn't turn down a good deal for IAG if he could get one, so who knows.

tdracer

I also heard another issue with the potential or lack of for the 380 as a freight/combi was the main deck floor strength...do you have an informed opinion on that?

Not really - I saw parts of an analysis several years ago that explained why the A380 wouldn't make a good freighter. A large part was the MZFW was relatively low by freighter standards, so the relationship of payload to aircraft weight wasn't good - it could fly a long way but not carry lots of cargo. While there are exceptions, the worldwide cargo network is based on a max range of ~4000 miles (hence while passenger 747s routinely cross the Pacific non-stop, most cargo 747s refuel in Alaska).
Strengthening the main deck floor is pretty common when doing a freighter conversion but perhaps the large diameter of the A380 makes that a bigger problem.

I know that the early A380s were heavier than aircraft built later and also inferior in some other respects. I don't know how significant this is or if it was a major factor.

All as said before, unlike the B747, originally built as a freighter, the A380 had weight problems from the start and its floors are simply not strong enough to convert it to a viable freighter, it is a pax aircraft, pure and simple.


Flew for an airline that took one of the test B767-300ER airframes, talking to the engineers it was a bit of a nightmare at times because it still had miles of wiring looms that had been used for tests but simply disconnected rather than be removed, all accounted for in the sale price. Made a difference to the weight and balance too.