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In the first half of 2026, the Airbus A380 will have 1,078 departures from the US to Europe. According to Cirium Diio data, they have fallen from 1,552 takeoffs in the same six months in 2025. That's a substantial drop of 31% in a year. British Airways, Emirates, and Lufthansa will operate the superjumbo in this market. As you'd expect, they're the same carriers that used the double-decker in 2025. Despite the return of BA's A380s to Dallas/Fort Worth next May, the decline is because of this carrier (-14%) but, particularly, Lufthansa (-80%). However, not all is as it seems. Hang On: Lufthansa's US A380 Flights Are Down By 80%?! When the Star Alliance member's schedule submission is examined, yes—that's correct. But huge caution is needed. Currently, Lufthansa has only scheduled the A380 service to the US in January and March. Not in February or the summer. It did not use the type to the US in February 2025 either, although services in January and March 2026 are higher than a year ago. In the first half of 2025, the 509-seat type was flown to Boston, Denver, Los Angeles, New York JFK, and Washington Dulles. As of October 22, all five routes are down to see the non-first-class-equipped, three-class, 293-seat Airbus A350-900 instead. It'd be easy to conclude that the twinjet will be flown instead. However, this is likely just a placeholder as it fine-tunes its summer plans. The A380 is exceptionally likely to be used on some or all of the five routes next summer. I would be very shocked if it did not. However, in July/August 2024, it had already scheduled many US A380 flights for the peak season of 2025. In this sense, it is quite behind in doing so for 2026. The overall picture for next year is likely to be very different from how it currently seems. The A380's Europe-US Routes From January To June 2026 (As Of Now) As of October 22, and certainly likely to change, the current picture sees eight routes, as outlined in the following table. BA plans five US routes on the double-decker, which is the same number that was available in the first half of 2025. However, this is because Dallas flights return. It replaces Washington Dulles, which is not scheduled to see the equipment next year. More on this later. Emirates will continue to use the A380 on its daily service from Dubai to New York JFK via Miami. From November 10 onwards, the Italian stopping service sees the 487-seat configuration, which is its second-lowest-capacity superjumbo layout. This is one of its four-class configurations. There are 14 seats in first class, 76 in business, 56 in premium economy, and 338 in economy. BA Won't Fly The A380 To Dulles The oneworld carrier first used the 464-seat double-decker to Dulles in 2014. It operated until 2020 and returned in 2022. The latest schedule update indicates that it will not run beyond November 7, 2025, with no service in 2026. BA's A380s are problematic. They currently have old cabins, with retrofitting due to take place in the second half of 2025. It is not known when the first frame with the latest cabins will carry passengers. Between January and June 2026, BA's frequency to Dulles will vary from daily to three times a day. In 2025, BA mainly used the A380 on BA293/BA292. In the first half of 2026, the 777-200ER, 777-300ER, 787-9, and 787-10 are due to replace the superjumbo, although some of these aircraft will only appear occasionally.
