Singapore Airlines has emphasised that it remains committed to the Airbus A380 despite a decision not to extend the lease on its earliest aircraft.
The airline is still deciding on the future of other A380 leases.
Its first A380, MSN3, is one of five early airframes leased by the carrier, all of which were among the first 10 A380s produced.
Speaking in Toulouse as the carrier accepted its latest A350-900, Singapore Airlines chief Goh Choon Phong said the airline “continued to see a role” for A380s, particularly on high-demand routes to slot-constrained airports.
He would not elaborate on the prospects for the other early A380s in its fleet.
“Each lease has a different timeline,” says Goh, adding that the carrier would examine them as their expiry approached and “announce accordingly”.
The carrier has another five A380s on order which are due to arrive from 2017.
SIA’s latest A350, its sixth, was handed over on 14 October in a ceremony marking 10,000 Airbus deliveries.
Goh says the airline is planning to take 18 of the type over the next 18 months. It has a total of 67 A350s on order.
Singapore Airlines has options to convert some of the A350-900s to the larger -1000, but Goh declines to indicate whether the carrier will exercise them. “We’ll evaluate those as and when the time comes,” he says.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
