A second Lufthansa Airbus A380 left the Tarmac Aerosave facility in Teruel, Spain, where it had been stored since June 2021.
The process of reintroducing the “Super Jumbo” to scheduled commercial service began last 2 December. On that day, the company started the reactivation process of the airplane registered as D-AIMK and named “Düsseldorf”, which had been grounded since May 2020.
[DOUBLE #DEPARTURE] 🛫🛫
Busy day in #Teruel with the ✌️ departure of @lufthansa aircraft!
We reactivated today the 2d #A380 D-AIMM and the 9th #A346 D-AIHX of the #Lufthansa fleet, stored and cared at our Teruel site!
Let's go for the next ones! Vamos! 💪🏼 pic.twitter.com/enyKl9zaPD— TARMAC Aerosave (@TarmacAerosave) February 3, 2023
The German carrier had decided to suspend all operations of the model as a result of the impact of the pandemic on its business.
After stating during the health crisis that it saw no return prospects for its A380s due to the global situation of the airline industry, in June last year Lufthansa made official its need to bring the world’s largest passenger aircraft back into service.
Two factors were key to the change of plans. On the one hand, the faster pace of market recovery than initially expected. On the other, delays in the Boeing 777X development programme, which the airline had hoped to receive to cover long-range, high-demand routes.
Before the pandemic began, Lufthansa had fourteen A380s in operation. Since then, the company has sold six of them to Airbus. Four aircraft currently remain in storage in Spain, and the airline may choose to reactivate them in the near future.
A second Airbus A380 will fly again
On 3 February, Airbus A380 with registration D-AIMM and manufacturer’s serial number (MSN) 175 took off from Teruel-Caudé Aerodrome (TEV) for Frankfurt am Main Airport (FRA), Lufthansa’s main hub.
Nur knapp eine Woche war die A380-Halle in Frankfurt leer. Nachdem die D-AIMK am Sonntag in Richtung Manila zum C-Check aufbrach, landete die zweite reaktivierte A380 D-AIMM heute um 15:25 Uhr aus Teruel. Welcome back Mike-Mike! ✈️ pic.twitter.com/IBofcgE1NY
— Lufthansa News (@lufthansaNews) February 3, 2023
The aircraft is scheduled to return to regular operations from next spring. By the summer, the airline also plans to reintroduce D-AIML and D-AIMN aircraft. This would mean that three A380s would be operational from Munich at the beginning of June, Lufthansa said.
Meanwhile, at the end of January the first aircraft to resume scheduled services arrived at Lufthansa Technik’s facility in Manila, Philippines, where it will undergo a thorough overhaul before being rescheduled.
Welcome to Manila, “Mike Kilo”! Last night, the first reactivated @Lufthansa #A380 arrived for a C-check at Lufthansa Technik Philippines, our competence center for base maintenance on the world’s largest passenger aircraft. We #keepyouflying, A380! pic.twitter.com/qW6RjDmC2g
— Lufthansa Technik (@LHTechnik) January 30, 2023
See also: Lufthansa reactivates the first Airbus A380 after almost 3 years
