Lufthansa stored its Airbus A380s about 45 days after the onset of the global pandemic, quickly drawing down half its fleet into deep storage at the end of April. From there, all but two aircraft quickly followed to the desert storage facilities in Spain and France. D-AIMH (MSN 070) and D-AIMM (MSN 175) were the last aircraft flown into storage by the airline.
The Lufthansa A380 fleet
At its peak the fleet numbered 14, serving major destinations like San Francisco, Hong Kong, and Delhi. The first batch of A380s were stored at the end of April-beginning of May 2020 with half the fleet entering deep storage in Spain.
Where are the Lufthansa A380s now?
Most of the A380 fleet is at the Tarmac Aerosave facility at Teruel, Spain. 12 of Lufthansa’s 14 aircraft are there. Two aircraft are stored in France at Tarbes.
| Registration | Location | Storage date |
|---|---|---|
| D-AIMA | Teruel-TEV | 07 May 2020 |
| D-AIMB | Teruel-TEV | 13 May 2020 |
| D-AIMC | Tarbes-LDE | 26 January 2021 |
| D-AIMD | Teruel-TEV | 22 March 2021 |
| D-AIME | Teruel-TEV | 16 April 2021 |
| D-AIMF | Teruel-TEV | 29 April 2020 |
| D-AIMG | Teruel-TEV | 28 April 2020 |
| D-AIMH | Teruel-TEV | 14 September 2021 |
| D-AIMI | Tarbes-LDE | 22 February 2021 |
| D-AIMJ | Teruel-TEV | 30 April 2020 |
| D-AIMK | Teruel-TEV | 5 May 2020 |
| D-AIML | Teruel-TEV | 5 May 2021 |
| D-AIMM | Teruel-TEV | 1 June 2021 |
| D-AIMN | Teruel-TEV | 06 May 2020 |
UPDATE 27 June 2022
Sadly, this isn’t a sight we’ll ever get to see again. We very well could see this sight again. Lufthansa announced today it will return an undetermined number of A380s to service for the summer 2023 season. While the airline did not say how many A380s will return and on what routes, we hope to see them skimming the In-n-Out next summer.
Featured image © Martin Tietz
