This news item does not bode well for a return to anything like normal in the next year and more. THAI is laying off 395 pilots leaving the airline with only 905. Worse, it is grounding much of its wide body fleet - the Boeing 747s, A380s and A330-300s. This is in addition to the A340s which it has  been trying unsuccessfully to sell for about 8 years and which are stored at U-Tapao.

Other airlines have been reducing their fleets by getting rid of long haul aircraft. British Airways has already sent its 31 747-400s off to a graveyard in the States. Qantas has mothballed all its A380s until 2003. This surely presages a major reduction in long haul travel.

https://thethaiger.com/news/national/thai-airways-lays-off-hundreds-of-pilots-under-debt-rehabilitation-plan

long haul travel has been killed along with most other travel over the past year. Eventually it will bounce back, but it will be interesting to see which airlines have survived by then.

TG has struggled with the A380s since they bought them. I am more surprised by ditching the A330s. Without the A380 or 747s though they won't have first class anymore. Where will all of those most important people sit? 

I was watching a video the other day suggesting that lots of long haul routes are going to be serviced by narrow body aircraft with the intro of the A321LR including lots of trans-Atlantic routes because they claimed people don't like connecting. Give me a widebody with a connection any day over a direct narrowbody, but I also live close to a major international hub. I suppose regional Asian routes will also be able to be served by smaller aircraft though. If there are more A350s in service that would be a good thing as far as I am concerned since that aircraft is the most comfortable generally.

The A321 Neo and the Boeing 737 Max are more or less the same type of aircraft - narrow bodies that can fly the Atlantic. Like fedssocr I loathe the idea of a narrow body on a longish haul route. At least en route to London Qatar flies A350s and 777s. I'll take an A350 any day over other aircraft, but I will certainly miss the A380 when it finally bites the dust. That is my favourite aircraft, especially if you an afford the biz class upstairs.

Or F class. :-) I agree it is sad to see the A380 being ditched by almost all of the operators who flew it. 

6 hours ago, fedssocr said:

Or F class. :-) I agree it is sad to see the A380 being ditched by almost all of the operators who flew it. 

In the handful of times I have been upgraded to long hasl F class over a long period of time, I have always enjoyed it, especially for the wines, although I'd aways ask for an extra helping of caviar! For some reason, though, I found Emirates A380 is the only plane where I did not want to be cooped up in a box-like suite in the front. I am sure the perks were great but I just loved their biz class which to be frank had most of the trimmings of first class including the stand up bar at the back serving premium drinks and canapés.

Qatar does come close, though, with its Q Suite biz class. Now if only they served caviar  

for sure QR suites are fantastic. I agree that the Emirates F suite was not the most comfy. I'd still love to try their latest suite though which looks great. Not sure I'd like the virtual windows in the center section