You are at netAirspace : Forum : Air and Space Forums : Civil Aviation

https://simpleflying.com/final-airbus-a380-assembled/

I'm still a fan of the 380, and it'll obviously be around for years to come, but...what a weird production lifespan this plane has had.

How long will airlines and lessors allow an A380 to sit parked before it gets scrapped? At some point travel will return, will they be willing to let such a large liability sit around waiting in hopes for the day it becomes an asset again?

DXing wrote:How long will airlines and lessors allow an A380 to sit parked before it gets scrapped? At some point travel will return, will they be willing to let such a large liability sit around waiting in hopes for the day it becomes an asset again?

The problem is they're not massively valuable as scrap either. Most sections are a mix of aluminum, composite and plastics which are often low value due to the cost of separating them. I heard that the scrap value of a 744 is 2.4 times that of an A380, so it's feasible that many will be mothballed in the hope of a resurgence in the airline industry/some despotic nation deciding to buy them all.

I guess the common components such as the lav sink and fittings, seats, galley curtain and other such items wouldn't fetch much on the after market either. Obviously a lot of the mechanical stuff is either not reusable or so tailored to the specific airplane type as to be next to worthless on the resale shelf.

This kind of reminds me of my favorite corporate aircraft of all time, the Beechcraft Starship. It had such limited appeal that Beechcraft finally bought all of them back so they wouldn't have to keep making parts. One guy bought as many of the spare parts as he could to keep his personal Starship able to fly for the foreseeable future.

Some say its a beautiful airplane, and in a way it is, but it certainly isn't going to garner the same level of affection and iconic status that the 747 has due to it's relatively short and limited life span in service.

Have to wonder if China doesn't think it would be good for their domestic service in the future.

I think the engineering was cool, I'm impressed with most large aircraft, it is a shame that any aircraft that took so much effort and resources is shutdown so quickly. I'm in the recycling and resale business now, I wonder who would be risking to tear these down for such a diminishing fleet. I am sure that they will be flying for 15 years or so more, but they will be retiring exponentially, especially if Covid keeps up.
I have flown it in economy a few times for long trips and it wasn't the most comfortable aircraft or the greatest inflight experience. That's just my honest opinion.

DXing wrote:
This kind of reminds me of my favorite corporate aircraft of all time, the Beechcraft Starship. It had such limited appeal that Beechcraft finally bought all of them back so they wouldn't have to keep making parts. One guy bought as many of the spare parts as he could to keep his personal Starship able to fly for the foreseeable future.

The thing with the BE2000 Starship was that it was only slightly better than the performance of a King Air BE350 but at more than double the price. This only appeals to people who would spend 2.5 million extra just for a cool canard look. There were also very finicky in regards to avionics and the electrical system. I have actually have flown on Starship N515JS. The owner stockpiled some parts and flew it long after the rebuy, but eventually gave in. There are a few left. Bob Scherer is the one you are thinking of with, N514RS. This is the one that has been, at times, a chase plane for Virgin Galactic.
https://www.aspendailynews.com/news/one ... 988c1.html



Supposedly there are 6 remaining... from Wiki "As of September 2020, only six Starships remain airworthy. Two of the last remaining airworthy Beechcraft Starships (NC-33 and NC-50) are owned and operated by an engineering firm in Addison, Texas. NC-33 lost its data plate when it was scrapped, was subsequently registered in Mexico, but when brought back to the USA, the FAA pulled its certificate. It is now registered in the experimental category as N903SC.[44] The other airworthy Starships are located in Oklahoma (NC-35 and NC-45), Colorado (NC-51), and Germany (NC-29, though registered with the FAA by a company in Delaware)."