European planemaker to auction off an Airbus A380 in parts

Airbus is preparing for an auction, during which aviation geeks and enthusiasts will be able to acquire pieces of the A380 Superjumbo. 

The auction, which will run in June 2022, will contain approximately 500 various items, ranging from lamps, bars, stairs, handrails, trolleys, seats, to the cockpit escape rope. 

Some profits of the proceeds will be donated to the airbus Foundation to help fund humanitarian initiatives, Airbus announced in a statement on February 19, 2022.

Most, but not all, parts that are going to be auctioned off come the A380 MSN13. The aircraft used to belong to Emirates. Delivered to the airline in 2008, entered service in October of the same year on a route from Dubai (DXB) to New York (JFK). It used to carry up to 489 passengers in a three-class configuration, until being withdrawn from use in February 2020 and decommissioned at Tarbes Lourdes (LDE) in October 2021. 

The first Airbus A380 lifted off from Toulouse-Blagnac airport for its inaugural flight on April 27, 2005. While never commercially successful, the aircraft program “has enabled Airbus to become, what it is today, an integrated company, offering a full range of efficient aircraft; a pioneering global leader in sustainable aerospace for a safe and united world,” Airbus writes in the statement. 

The last Superjumbo, MSN272, was delivered to Emirates in December 2021. 

The Airbus auction is not the initiative that finds usage of the iconic aircraft in its afterlife. Earlier in the month, the company’s former engineer Frédéric Deleuze revealed his plans to convert an Airbus A380 aircraft into a luxury hotel, to be located in the northern part of Toulouse-Blagnac Airport (TLS).