Have you ever wanted to own part of an Airbus A380, but balked at the price tag placed on the aircraft by Airbus? Now’s your chance to own a piece of the tenth Airbus A380 to be built, as aviation tag launches sales of fuselage parts from the mighty giant.
At Simple Flying we love it when the opportunity to own a bit of aircraft comes around. From keyrings to furniture, there are many ways to keep an aircraft alive long after it has finished flying. While it seems parts of most planes are available these days, some stand out as more interesting than others.
Own part of an Airbus A380
Aviationtag has sold parts of the Airbus A380 before, with parts typically selling out in hours. Now, the company is selling tags from 9V-SKE, the tenth Airbus A380 to be built. Chunks of the fuselage have been turned into nifty keyrings, each with a serial number from one to 8,000. The company is selling them for €38.64 ($45.55).
As mentioned, this latest edition comes from 9V-SKE, one of five Airbus A380s to be retired from the Singapore Airlines fleet between 2017 and 2018. According to data from ch-aviation.com, the aircraft was 13.37 years old when it was scrapped in Tarbes earlier this year.
The aircraft was one of the first A380s to be built, with a serial number of 10. The giant first left the runway for the sky on December 21st, 2007, and went on to be delivered on June 28th, 2008.
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It remained in service with Singapore Airlines for roughly ten years, before the airline returned the aircraft to the lessor, the Dr. Peters Group, in April 2018. Since then it had been stored in Tarbes. Before it was returned, the jet racked up 44,887 flight hours across 5,572 flight cycles.
The fourth Airbus A380 to be scrapped
Unlike its sister, 9V-SKC, this aircraft didn’t find a second-hand operator. The second-hand A380 market was non-existent before the COVID-19 crisis drove a huge increase in available aircraft. As a result, this Airbus A380 became the fourth Airbus A380 to be scrapped for spare parts and trinkets.
The first A380 to be scrapped was 9V-SKA, the first Airbus A380 to be delivered, and also the first to be retired. This was followed shortly by 9V-SKB. Both aircraft were flown by Singapore Airlines and ended up becoming Aviationtags following huge demand. Recently, the company auctioned ten tags it had saved from 9V-SKA to support the relief effort against catastrophic floods in Germany.
The only other A380 known to have been scrapped is the first plane to have been retired by Air France. This A380 was retired long before the impacts of the pandemic were even a thought, with the aircraft flying to Knock, Ireland, to be turned into spare parts.
What do you make of the latest addition to the Aviationtag collection. Let us know what you think and why in the comments below!
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