Singapore Airlines Joins Air France, Etihad, Qatar and More Flights in Retiring the A380 from U.S. Airports as the Era of the World's Largest Passenger Jet Nears Its Final Descent

In total, six international airlines have withdrawn the A380 from the United States or plan to do so by mid-2025. Alongside Singapore Airlines, the list includes Air France, China Southern, Etihad Airways, HiFly (which operated the aircraft briefly on behalf of Norwegian), and Qatar Airways. These carriers once offered high-capacity A380 service between the U.S. and major cities across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Now, all of them have either transitioned to smaller aircraft or exited the U.S. A380 market entirely.

Air France was once one of the largest A380 operators to North America, serving cities like New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington D.C., and Miami before retiring the aircraft in 2020. China Southern flew the A380 between Guangzhou and Los Angeles until 2020, briefly bringing it back in 2021 and 2022 before ending service altogether. Etihad resumed A380 flights to New York in 2024, but that revival will be short-lived: the airline plans to conclude A380 operations to the U.S. by June 23, 2025, shifting the aircraft to serve Toronto instead.

Altogether, these six A380 operators contributed approximately 25.7 million seats on U.S. routes between 2009 and 2025. Air France alone accounted for over 11 million of those seats. Singapore Airlines followed closely behind with around 9.2 million, while China Southern provided nearly 3 million. The remainder came from Etihad, HiFly, and Qatar.