Emirates' first A380 to get new lease of life

Emirates Airline plans to recycle and repurpose its first retired A380 aircraft.

The onboard bar and other cabin features will be transformed into bespoke furniture, plus a range of aviation memorabilia and retail items which will be released for sale in the coming months.

The materials recovery and repurposing activities will be entirely conducted in the UAE.

The project will help save valuable materials from landfill and also reduce the environmental impact.

Traditional salvage and recycling projects focus on recovering only profitable components, thereby leaving behind a substantial portion of the aircraft and materials that go into landfill or sit idle indefinitely for years.

"Through this initiative, our customers and fans can take home a piece of aviation history while saving valuable materials from landfill and contributing to a charitable cause through the Emirates Airline Foundation. It's an elegant and fitting retirement solution for this iconic aircraft and our flagship," said Sir Tim Clark, President of Emirates Airline.

After completing its last commercial mission, A6-EDA, the first A380 ever delivered to Emirates, was retired from service and brought to the airline's Engineering Centre where Emirates engineers retrieved serviceable components such as engines, landing gears and flight control components.

The aircraft was then deregistered and handed over to the Falcon Aircraft Recycling team to begin the process of carefully breaking down the aircraft.

"This is our most ambitious project to date which will see the first deconstruction of an A380 outside of Europe. Approximately 190 tonnes of various metals, plastics, carbon fibre composites and other materials will be removed from the aircraft and passed on for recycling or repurposing via our upcycling programme with Wings Craft," said Andrew Tonks, Director of Falcon Aircraft Recycling.

Emirates' first A380, previously operating as A6-EDA, was retired after an illustrious service record:

• Delivered from Airbus' Hamburg facility on: 28 July 2008
• First commercial flight: Dubai-New York JFK on 01 August 2008
• Last commercial flight: Singapore-Dubai on 08 March 2020
• Total number of flights: 6,319
• Airports visited: 62