Preface
In 2022, China Southern Airlines announced the retirement of all five Airbus A380 airliners, and all five A380s after retirement were flown to Victorville Airport, the famous "aircraft graveyard" in the United States, for disassembly.
Why, then, can't the planes we bought at great expense be left in our own aircraft graveyard and disassembled by ourselves?
Could it be that we are even monopolized by the "aircraft cemetery", and China itself cannot disassemble the aircraft?
The A380 fleet was retired
On April 24, 2022, two A380 aircraft took off from Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport and flew to Victorville Airport in the United States for storage.
In addition, three other A380 aircraft in China Southern Airlines also flew to the "aircraft cemetery" in the United States in the same year, officially announcing their retirement.
When China Southern Airlines announced the retirement of the A380, it caused an uproar in China.
You know, these five A380 aircraft were delivered to us by Airbus in 2011, during which the A380 mission was only carried out for 12 years, far from the number of years that can be decommissioned.
Therefore, many people began to wonder, after all, we also spent a lot of money to buy five A380s.
So, why did the A380 retire early?
As soon as the A380 came out, it successfully defeated the Boeing 747 of the United States and became the "new hegemon" in the civil airliner.
At the beginning, in order to develop a passenger aircraft that can fight the Boeing 747, Airbus spent manpower and material resources to research a new passenger aircraft.
To this end, other European countries have also allocated 15 billion euros to Airbus for research and development.
Sure enough, Airbus lived up to expectations, and they developed this A380 that can completely surpass the Boeing 747, and its appearance is enough to make everyone's eyes shine.
The A380 has the advantage of carrying a large number of passengers and low fuel consumption, making it ideal for long-haul international flights.
Such a "perfect" passenger plane, any airline will be tempted to see it, and China Southern Airlines is one of them.
In order to better expand international routes, China Southern Airlines was impressed by the A380, and after understanding its overall architecture and performance, China Southern Airlines ordered five aircraft with a wave of his hand.
As a result, China Southern became the first customer of the A380 in the Chinese market.
However, there were various problems during the mass production of the A380, which caused our original delivery time in 2007 to be delayed until 2011, and China Southern Airlines received these five aircraft.
China Southern Airlines, which received the goods, began to put it into use in a hurry, but it did not come to pass, and the economic crisis in 2008 also had an impact on the aviation market.
As a result, in order to reduce expenses, major airlines can only reduce long-distance flight routes and choose short- and medium-haul routes, while A380 can only fly domestically or operate shorter intercontinental routes.
So in the very beginning, the A380 was in a state of "heroes are useless", and it was not until 2017 that it began to officially come in handy.
The A380 passenger plane is too big, it is not cost-effective to fly for short distances, and it has to be less for long distances, and it can't fly in the years of the epidemic.
In desperation, Air France first stood up and announced the early retirement of 9 A380s, and in the same year, British Airways announced the early retirement of 31 Boeing 747s.
In 2022, Airbus and Boeing, which could not withstand the pressure, announced the suspension of production of A380 and 747, and in such an environment, China Southern Airlines had no choice but to make the decision to retire early.
As for the five A380s after retirement, they all flew to the "aircraft cemetery" in the United States and waited for the later dismantling mission.
So, why didn't the A380, as an aircraft that we bought with our own money, stay in China after retirement?
Aircraft cemetery
The "Aircraft Cemetery", as the name suggests, is to take in those retired aircraft, put those aircraft here for storage, and then quietly wait for the later dismantling mission.
Today, there are only five large aircraft graveyards in the world: Mojave and Victorville in the United States, Tarbes in France, Teruel in Spain, and Alice Springs in Australia.
And we do not have a professional aircraft cemetery in China, so every time we have a retired aircraft, we can only fly abroad for storage.
However, the cost of storage is not cheap.
Because the aircraft is flown over for storage, it is not only parked there, but also needs to be maintained and maintained by the relevant staff of the airport to prevent the internal parts of the aircraft from rusting, which will affect the dismantling and sales work behind.
So why doesn't China have an aircraft cemetery?
Because with China's current dismantling technology and environmental conditions, it is not enough to build a large aircraft cemetery.
After the aircraft is left in the aircraft cemetery, it is basically not directly destroyed, and they need to go through a series of follow-up evaluation, dismantling and a series of work.
After all, it costs a lot of money to buy an aircraft, and after it is decommissioned, it will definitely be possible to explore the areas where it can create value.
Then, before the aircraft is disassembled, the airport staff needs to carry out some maintenance work from time to time to prevent the aircraft from "rotting".
In addition, the environmental conditions required for the establishment of an aircraft cemetery are also very important, firstly, the terrain is a necessary condition, and secondly, the climate.
The planes in the "cemetery" are generally parked for a long time, and if you choose a place with a lot of rainy season, then the aircraft will not be able to withstand the acidic substances in the rain.
Therefore, the construction sites of these five major airports are all in desert areas, and the dry weather and open cities are the best choices for the establishment of aircraft cemeteries.
Although China also has deserts, the traffic there cannot keep up, and if you want to dismantle and develop it in the later stage, it will be very inconvenient, so China has not had a suitable aircraft cemetery for a long time.
So, some people ask, "Can we drive the plane over and disassemble it ourselves?"
Aircraft dismantling process
The dismantling process of an airplane is extremely cumbersome, and although it is not as difficult as building an airplane, the technology required is also very demanding.
Normally retired aircraft need to undergo a rigorous evaluation before they can be disassembled, such as the A380, which has not yet met the retirement conditions and are retired, most of the parts in it can be reused.
The evaluation link is mainly used to evaluate which parts can be reused, which parts can meet the sales standards, and which need to be damaged in those retired models.
This team is a fairly professional company to assemble.
China's aviation field originally started later than other countries, when people began to build airplanes, we were still studying how to build airplanes, when we built airplanes, people have begun to consider the development of follow-up industries.
Therefore, when we want to get involved in this valuation industry, many foreign companies have already developed quite maturely in this industry, and it is very difficult for us to force it to join.
The other aspect is the dismantling process of the aircraft.
If you want to disassemble an aircraft, you must first have professional qualifications, one of which is called the 145 maintenance qualification.
This qualification is only a "stepping stone" to enter this industry, if you want to have more dismantling capabilities and carry out in-depth dismantling work, you have to constantly apply to the major civil aviation authorities to obtain licenses.
The dismantling work not only requires strong technical support, but also needs to be combined with the evaluation to become a perfect team.
Not only that, but different types of aircraft need to have different qualifications.
It doesn't mean that you can disassemble all the aircraft if you have a dismantling qualification, but you have to go through the corresponding qualification for what type of aircraft you disassemble.
The whole process is quite troublesome, otherwise we would not have spent manpower and material resources to park the plane at foreign airports and spend money to disassemble it for others.
So far, there are 9 companies in China that can carry out aircraft dismantling business, and only CALC is a professional dismantling company, and the business of other companies is mainly in maintenance.
It can be seen that the dismantling process of an aircraft is very complex and professional.
Although China's technology on this is still lacking, but with CAAC taking the lead, I believe that the later development will not be too slow, C919 is the best proof.
The development of China's future aviation industry chain
On July 14, 2023, the mainland's first self-developed civil airliner C919 obtained the airworthiness certificate, which means that the C919 has been qualified for commercial operation, and it can officially take everyone to shuttle in the sky.
As of February 29, 2024, the five C919s received and operated by China Eastern Airlines have been operated on five routes.
They have accumulated more than 3,272 hours of commercial flights, carried 1,131 commercial flights, and carried more than 145,000 passengers.
The successful independent research and development of C919 marks another milestone in the development of China's aviation.
Although we still have technological backwardness in the field of aviation, with the continuous efforts of our scientific researchers to develop and improve technology, I believe that in the future, China will continue to make breakthroughs in the field of aviation.
Judging from the background of China's aviation development, it is not easy for us to get to where we are today.
Under the circumstance that European and American countries continue to impose a technological blockade on us, the only thing that China's aviation industry can do is to break through the blockade again and again, and the impossible will become possible.
China's development has never been for the sake of chasing anyone, and we have always been in awe of scientific research, not comparison.
China has also been looking for a suitable geographical location for the establishment of an aircraft cemetery, and some things cannot be solved overnight.
On the other hand, as for the dismantling technology and evaluation team, China now has nine companies, including CALC, engaged in technical research.
I believe that in the future, with their leadership, China will be able to have its own aircraft cemetery, and at the same time, it will also have superb dismantling technology and a highly professional evaluation team.
For the background, China's aviation industry has developed very fast, C919 is the best proof, in the future, we can complete the closure of the industrial chain is just around the corner.
epilogue
It's normal to have gaps, and as long as you can face up to them and try to catch up and improve, then anything can happen.
China has experienced many difficulties during its development from a waste to a great country today, but in terms of time, our speed of development is very fast.
Looking at the future and the future, China is leading us to see more new developments step by step, as long as we calm down and stabilize the output, China's future will be immeasurable.
Resources:
China News Network: After 10 years of difficult operation, China Southern Airlines' A380 fleet started to retire
The Paper: A380 after retirement: dismantling, auctioning, entering museums, and turning into hotels
Southern PLUS: Goodbye, "Air Giant"! All five A380s of China Southern Airlines will be retired this year