Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways (ANA) has indicated that its small fleet of Airbus A380 superjumbos — which ranks as the youngest A380 fleet in the world — will continue flying for many years to come. ANA President and CEO Juichi Hirasawa pointed to their young age and long remaining lifecycle, stating that the carrier has no plans to retire its A380 fleet anytime soon.

The three aircraft — delivered to the airline in 2019 and 2020 — are among the youngest A380 airframes in service today, arriving in Japan just before Airbus closed its A380 production line in 2021. They are also among the most recognizable double-decker jets in the skies, each sporting ANA’s iconic “Flying Honu” livery.

ANA’s Airbus A380 Fleet Still Has Many Years Left

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Speaking to reporters at the IATA Annual General Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Hirasawa indicated that the carrier is in no rush to retire its small superjumbo fleet, even as its fleet modernization drive continues. As reported by Aviation Week, ANA’s CEO said the A380 still has the capacity to keep flying, given that it only joined the airline in 2019 and spent more than two years on the ground during the COVID pandemic.

Hirasawa also cited the lack of time to search for a suitable replacement aircraft amid repeated delays with the Boeing 777X program. Simple Flying reached out to ANA for comment on its A380 retirement plans — the airline confirmed it has no plan or retirement schedule in place for the A380, adding that the fleet will continue flying between Tokyo Narita Airport (NRT) and Honolulu International Airport (HNL) for the foreseeable future.

According to data from ch-aviation, ANA’s three A380s are among the ten newest airframes built by Airbus, making ANA’s fleet the youngest in the world by average fleet age (7.3 years). The first to be delivered was MSN 262, the tenth-last A380 built by Airbus, followed by MSN 263 (ninth) and MSN 266 (seventh). The remaining top ten youngest A380 airframes are all operated by Emirates, including MSN 272 (reg: A6-EVS), the last A380 to roll off the production line. Hirasawa said,

“We don’t really have the time it would take to look for a possible A380 replacement. Even if delays occur, we will just postpone the retirement of current aircraft, so it won’t have any impact.”

Global A380 Fleet Likely To Keep Flying Until 2040s

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Airbus built a total of 251 A380s over the superjumbo’s production run until 2021, and the majority of these airframes remain in service today. Although several airlines have retired their A380s for good, Emirates has been the program’s lynchpin with over 115 aircraft in its fleet, while other notable operators today include British Airways, Lufthansa, Qantas, Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines.

However, the quadjet is becoming increasingly difficult to justify from an economic perspective amid rising fuel costs and more efficient twinjet aircraft on the market. Other than Emirates, most airlines have found it tough to make the aircraft profitable, which is best suited to high-volume trunk routes. Emirates has committed to keeping its fleet airborne until the 2040s, although other operators have implemented shorter timelines for their fleets.

Most are expected to phase out their A380s from the early 2030s, with Korean Air, Lufthansa and Qantas publicly confirming this timeline for their respective fleets. Qatar Airways will be retiring its fleet even earlier once its new 777Xs start arriving, while Singapore Airlines’ A380s are expected to retire sooner rather than later.

ANA’s A380 Successor Delays

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ANA has earmarked the 777X as the high-capacity replacement for its A380 fleet, placing an order for 20 airframes back in 2014. However, with the type’s initial entry to service date in 2020 delayed by at least seven years, ANA’s Flying Honu fleet has become even more important to its network.

The carrier also has additional new widebody capacity coming in the form of the Boeing 787-9 this summer, placing an order for 18 aircraft last year, although neither of these Boeing-made twinjets represents a like-for-like replacement for the A380. ANA deploys its A380s on its popular Tokyo-Honolulu route, which consistently attracts enough demand to justify the use of its 520-seater, four-class quadjets.