It’s a well-known story at this point, mainly because the aircraft are rotting away in plain sight and they’ve been there for a few years.
Anybody flying to or from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport or U-Tapao Rayong Pattaya International Airport can spot them.
Only one was saved, and you’ll never guess what it’s being used for now.
This is why these Airbus A380s were abandoned here
A few years before the pandemic, Thai Airways bit off more than it could chew by investing in a fleet of double-decker giants.
The problem is that the Airbus A380 is one of the most expensive airliners in the world.
It costs a fortune to buy and a fortune to maintain, which explains why very few airlines actually operate them.
Thai Airways certainly made a strategic mistake when they bought all these aircraft, but they were also a bit unlucky because their timing was pretty bad.
Diecastjames
Airbus A380s were already expensive to maintain before Covid, but when the pandemic halted so many flights globally Thai Airways had to ground all of them immediately.
At that point, the airline realized that these giants were simply too thirsty and unprofitable, which is why they officially retired the entire fleet.
In the meantime, Thai Airways had also undergone Thailand’s equivalent of Chapter 11 [Bankruptcy protection] and was essentially ordered to sell or write off nearly half of its fleet.
Six years later, the situation is still pretty dramatic.
Diecastjames
Only one Thai Airways aircraft was saved
Not long ago, we spoke with a frequent flyer and content creator who goes by Diecastjames, and he told us that he spotted at least four Airbus A380s left at Bangkok Airport.
“I spotted four A380s left. I saw three on the main storage taxiway but there’s also a fourth one that’s being stripped out near the hangar. And you can’t see that in the video,” he told Supercar Blondie.
The problem for Thai Airways is that getting rid of these aircraft is a slow, painful, and complicated process, but it is also a race against time.
Every minute you wait makes it worse because aircraft deteriorate pretty quickly when they’re not used and maintained, while their value will likely continue to go down.
Diecastjames
It would probably help a bit if we at least managed to find a silver lining and, fortunately, there is one.
Sort of.
If we absolutely wanted to find a silver lining, we could talk about the only one that was saved.
One of these A380s – registration number HS-TUE – was dismantled, and then reassembled as a roadside attraction in a place called Rayong, around 120 miles south of the capital, Bangkok.
Google Maps
A photographer called Dirk Grothe shared images of the plane in Rayong, Thailand, and, based on what Google Maps says, the aircraft is now being used as an all-purpose night market with cafes, restaurants, and so on.
You can find on both Google Maps and Google Earth using the coordinates.
It’s certainly a small consolation prize as these aircraft probably deserved a better fate.