Hi Fly Malta (3L, Malta International) has announced it will retire its only A380-800 later this year and will replace it with a more marketable A330 twinjet.
"The decision to not extend the initial agreed lease period came as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, that drastically reduced the demand for very large aircraft," the airline said.
9H-MIP (msn 6) was retired by Singapore Airlines (SQ, Singapore Changi) in November 2017 and added by Hi Fly Malta in mid-2018. The 14-year-old Airbus aircraft is owned by Doric Asset Finance and was the world's only A380 available for wet-lease or charter. However, the airline has struggled to find placements for the aircraft this year, only deploying it on single ad-hoc charters. In July 2020, the airline removed most of the seats from the aircraft and proferred it to the market for cargo-only flights.
According to Flightradar24 ADS-B data, the quadjet was parked at Kuala Lumpur International between October 7 and October 23, after operating a charter flight from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi, and was subsequently ferried back to Beja, where it now remains.
In terms of A330s, the platform of choice for further growth, Hi Fly Malta operates four A330-300s and one A330-900, while its parent Hi Fly (5K, Beja) operates one A330-200 and one A330-900.
Hi Fly's decision to retire its A380 coupled with other carriers' plans to discontinue using the type, mean the A380 formally remains in service with 12 carriers, of which only two - Emirates (EK, Dubai International) and China Southern Airlines (CZ, Guangzhou) - currently use them for scheduled commercial flights, the ch-aviation fleets module shows.
