Around 900 British Airways passengers to and from Singapore are the latest to be told their planned Airbus A380 flight is cancelled – in a summer when the airline’s biggest jet has encountered repeated problems.
Flight BA11 from London Heathrow to Singapore was due to arrive at the city-state just after 4pm local time on Friday, ahead of the Formula 1 Grand Prix on Sunday.
But the departure was grounded, along with the corresponding BA12 inbound flight due to arrive at Heathrow at 6.30am on Saturday. Most passengers have been rebooked to travel on Friday.
They are the latest of a series of cancellations or substitutions involving the A380 “SuperJumbo”.
According to Rhys Jones, aviation editor for the Head for Points frequent-flyer website, one in 25 planned BA flights using the world’s largest passenger jet has been cancelled or operated with a smaller aircraft this summer. That is a far higher rate than would normally be expected for a single aircraft type.
London to Washington DC has seen the highest rate of disruption, with one in six flights affected between 1 June and 20 September. It is the destination with the highest number of alternative flights for passengers, with a wide range of airlines and departures.
British Airways has 12 A380s in its fleet. But Mr Jones told The Independent: “In early September four of BA’s A380s were out of service, or one-third of their fleet.
“Summer schedules were designed with 10 aircraft in active service.
“Severe reliability issues have plagued the aircraft since it returned to service in 2021.”
Two of the aircraft have encountered specific problems, according to the writer. In early September, the A380 registered as G-XLEK was limited to an altitude of 28,000 feet due to an issue with the satellite communication system. This is well below the normal cruising altitude, which can extend above 40,000 feet. Flying at a relatively low height is much less fuel-efficient.
Another G-XLEJ returned from a two-month overhaul in Manila. “It operated two commercial services before being taken out of service again for 10 days, returning on 13 September,” Mr Jones told The Independent.
A spokesperson for British Airways said: :The A380 remains a small but important part of our fleet and our engineering teams work closely with aircraft manufacturers and part suppliers to ensure our aircraft receive the care and attention they need to deliver a safe and punctual service for our customers.
“Safety is always our highest priority and while the overwhelming majority of our flights operate as planned when, like any large operation, we experience technical issues we provide our customers with alternative options to get them to their destination as quickly as possible.”
When an A380 is unavailable, the alternative to the cancellation of a flight is to use another aircraft. But Boeing 777s, 787s and Airbus A350s have far fewer seats – with typically around 200 fewer seats than the SuperJumbo.
The airline’s room for manoeuvre with its long-haul aircraft fleet is constrained because of an incident in April in which a BA Airbus A350 was damaged by a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787 that was being towed.
The British Airways plane has been out of use all summer. Earlier this month, an Airbus BelugaXL freighter touched down at Heathrow with parts to allow the damaged aircraft to be repaired.
Under air passengers’ rights rules, each cancellation of a full Airbus A380 would cost over £240,000 if all the passengers claimed the statutory £520 in compensation.
The Airbus A380 has failed to live up to expectations, with far fewer made than the European manufacturer expected.
By far the biggest operator of the A380 is Emirates, which has 116 in its fleet – including the very last of 251 aircraft to be delivered before production shut down.
For more travel news and advice, listen to Simon Calder’s podcast