British Airways
is facing reliability-related issues with its Airbus A380
fleet, says a report published on Thursday by Head for Points’ Rhys Jones. In a statement, British Airways told Simple Flying that its engineering teams were “working closely with aircraft manufacturers and part suppliers” to maintain its planes. This comes in light of supply chain issues impacting spare part deliveries. These difficulties have affected some of the airline’s flights, with the most affected destination being Washington Dulles International Airport
(IAD).

Several destinations affected

Jones calculates that roughly 4.5% of all British Airways flights that were meant to operate with the A380 have been canceled since July 1, 2024. This amounts to roughly one in 20 flights, he says. The destination that was most affected by the operational concerns was IAD, as the carrier prioritizes the deployment of its A380s on longer routes including to:

This is of particular concern as finding a replacement for the airline’s highest-capacity plane is not an easy feat. The aircraft are configured with 469 seats. The next biggest plane in the carrier’s fleet are its 336-seater Boeing 777-200ERs. The carrier has six of these in service according to ch-aviation data.

A British Airways Airbus A380 (G-XLEA 095)

Photo: Wirestock Creators | Shutterstock

Washington Dulles

Officially, according to Cirium data, British Airways is meant to operate daily with its A380 between LHR and IAD under flight number BA293 (outbound). Per Flightradar24 however, a 777-200ER was forced to step in on the following dates in descending order:

  • September 12
  • September 11
  • September 6
  • September 1
  • August 31
  • August 30
  • August 29
  • August 28

A Boeing 777-300ER took over the service on September 5 too.

Among the incidents over the last month (that are not necessarily related to the maintenance concerns but very well could be) include:

  • Diversion back to LHR on August 9
  • Flight cancelations on August 25, September 3 and September 7

Dallas, Miami, and San Francisco

Similar stories can be found on some of the A380s other routes including to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport
(DFW) which saw two cancelations this month (September 2 and September 18). Miami International Airport
(MIA) also saw two cancelations this month, on September 1 and 4. Flights to destinations further afield are sometimes affected, including San Francisco International Airport
(SFO) for instance, which suffered two cancelations in August on the 23 and 31.

Why is this happening?

Head for Points notes a couple of reasons for why the operational issues seem to be occuring:

  1. Storage concerns: since BA stored the planes during the COVID pandemic at the very wet Châteauroux Airport (CHR) in France, the aircraft have become less reliable.
  2. Lack of replacement parts and aircraft: with only 12 in the fleet, finding replacement parts and aircraft is proving a challenge. The airline does not simply have enough A380s to spare to fill-in in case of an issue.
  3. Lack of pilots: the number of type-rated pilots for the A380 has reduced as many switched to the A350 during COVID

In a statement to Simple Flying, British Airways said the following:

“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.

British Airways Airbus A380 landing at Los Angeles International Airport.

Photo: Angel DiBilio | Shutterstock

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.”

The carrier is working with Airbus to resolve the issues, as supply chain issues impact the speed at which it can access parts it needs.

Routes and fleet details: the British Airways A380s

Ch-aviation data shows that British Airways operates 12 Airbus A380 aircraft, of which one (G-XLEH) has been out of service since September 1 as it undergoes maintenance in Manila. All the planes are operated by Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines and are configured in a four-class layout with 469 seats. This includes 303 economy, 55 premium economy, 97 business and 14 first class seats.

British Airways Airbus A380

Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

The routes on which the British Airways A380s are deployed include (non-exhaustively) Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco, Johannesburg and Singapore.

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