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Accordingly to this article "First commercial Airbus A380 turned to dust", first A380 was scrapped.

Apart be a sad news for an aviation fan, it sounds me a bit strange because it was an airplane of only 10-12 years, while generally a plane flights for more than 20.

Ok, I know that A380 was sadly almost a commercial flop but it was not an old plane, I thought that could continue to flight with another airline.

In which way could be more convenient to scrap it instead of sell it flyable to another company?

Luca Detomi
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    Although the question maybe isnt a duplicate I think this answers your question too: https://aviation.stackexchange.com/a/72001/100 – Jamiec Nov 29 '19 at 11:49
  • If nobody wants to buy it because it's too expensive to operate/maintain, what would you do with it? Mothball it and continue to pay, or scrap it and recover some of your investment? – Ron Beyer Nov 29 '19 at 14:42

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Well, the article you are referring to quite clearly states the reason for the decision to scrap the plane(s): negotiations with airlines to sell or lease were not successfull, so the only option was to scrap, or rather dismantle the plane.

Furthermore, the article presents the estimate by Dr. Peters Group that it would be able to generate some \$45 million per aircraft by selling the useable components, and an additional $480 000 / month by leasing the engines.

As a reference, the list price of a new A380 is (was) something like $ 430 million, the actual prices being, however, much lower. When you consider that a 10 year old plane most likely needs a considerable interior refurbishment, the decision made by Dr. Peters Group does not seem so strange, does it?

Jpe61
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One need to take into the equation, that this particular frame was MSN003, so one of those affected by the wiring disaster and other teething troubles of the early manufactured models, which substantially increases maintenance costs. Dr. Peters Group says "we did not find a buyer" and this might be the root cause. The plane has larger value as spare part source than complete. I remember some Frontier Airlines A318's which were sent for part-out after only two years of service, so it is nothing unusual in this business.

Leelou
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