It looks like some of the Air France A380 fleet is being scrapped in Knock, Ireland. For those that don’t know, this is a place in County Mayo in the west of the country.
The French airline are retiring the Airbus A380, planning to have all of them out of service by 2022. While it is the beginning of the end for the aircraft with Air France, other airlines plan to keep them for around the next ten years.
Air France A380 Scrapping At Knock
Flying In Ireland is reporting that up to four aircraft will meet the axe in Knock. F-HPJB has been returned to the lessor, Dr. Peters Group and the latest news is the aircraft is due on Valentine’s Day. You can see this plane in happier times at the top of this article.
Irish company EirTrade Aviation are based at Knock Airport and are fully capable of scrapping an Airbus A380. No doubt the value of the parts is higher than any potential future lease income.
Knock Airport
Officially known as Ireland West Airport Knock, the facility served just over 800,000 passengers in 2019, mainly to UK destinations. Aer Lingus, Ryanair and FlyBe operate the majority of services.
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- Final approach to Knock Airport
It will certainly be interesting to see an Airbus A380 at the airport in among the Boeing 737s, Airbus A320s and Dash 8s! No doubt the spotters will out in force to catch the landing.
Overall Thoughts
Parting out the Air France A380 fleet is not too surprising. The prohibitive cost of cabin reconfiguration means that existing operators are just not interested in acquiring the second hand aircraft, despite the fact they may be able to use them.
Knock is an airport that I have yet to visit in Ireland. I still need to get to Knock, Cork, Kerry and Belfast International before I can say I’ve been to all the main facilities on the island. Perhaps the next time I am in London I will return home from London Gatwick to Knock and then get a bus home. We will see!
Have you ever flown on board an Air France A380? Perhaps you’ve been to Knock Airport before? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image by Jakkrit Prasertwit on Airliners.net via Wikimedia Commons.
Knock Airport by Harvey Milligan via Wikimedia Commons.
Why Knock airport? When scrapped is it less costly to transport the parts around the globe? Just doesn’t add up!
I have no idea why it was scrapped there. Knock is not that far from Dublin really, so it’s not like it’s being scrapped in Greenland or somewhere remote. Perhaps the company doing the work bid for it. That’s my guess anyway!
I’d say there are a few tears falling on the croissants at the moment, the germans are frantically trying to put their A380 fleet back in the air. Talk about being short sighted.
Yes, things have certainly changed since the pandemic!!
I few from Glasgow to Boston on Globespan. First time transatlantic on a 737?! And we were quite surprised to find we were landing in Ireland in the middle of what looked like nothing but countryside. The airport has no taxi ways and a disconcerting upward turn in the runway. The plane drives to the turnaround at the end of the runway and back the way it came to the rather small apron. Departing was also weird since you drive along the runway again, turn around, and then take off downhill! Cutest airport ever. Astonishing to see an A380 land… Read more »
Sounds like an interesting experience – I’ve never used that airport, so what you’ve said here really paints it vividly in my mind. I’ll have to give it a go sometime! Have to agree, the construction is a story in itself, that’s for sure. Thanks for the comment!
Is knock big enough for that sized plane to land ? Did the plane land in knock ?
Yes, the runway is long enough at Knock. It has not arrived as yet – the other site says there are some regulatory issues to clear up first. So we wait and see!
Hi..do you know when the next date is for it to arrive..I’ve looked on the Internet but can’t find anything ☺
I haven’t seen anything else written about it as yet, sorry! Keep your eyes peeled.
The flight is in the air as I type and due to land in Knock today (Thursday 20th) @ 4.17pm. Seeing a mighty A380 touch down in Knock will have many reaching for their rosary beeds….
Hahahaha – it will indeed! Thanks very much for the update! 🙂
I’m really surprised that it’s cheaper to scrap them then sell them with a discount for someone else to reconfigure. Considering how often used planes are sold and the cabin reconfigured, this is very unusual. Of course, there are only a handful of airlines flying the A380, so the number of prospective purchasers is pretty limited.
I guess it s cheaper to part them out becaause the size of the aircraft makes reconfiguration a more expensive ordeal.
Personally, I have never been a fan of this aircraft, only because it hasnt really been innovative in any way or form except for the humongous size. The 747 was larger than anything before it, but it looked graceful. This plane looks like someone shoved a snowblower up the APU exhaust of an A320 and inflated it to grotesque proportions
Haha! Yes, they are finding it cheaper to part them out. I imagine that’s where the money will be for the next while, before they all go out of service at the end of this decade.
Yes, apparently BA worked it out and while it’s cheap to lease the aircraft, once you change the internal configuration, it becomes too expensive. It’s not surprising, Swiss spent €100 million on a new configuration on five Airbus A340s. It’s big money!