Lufthansa has sent its seventh Airbus A380 to Teruel, a Spanish aircraft graveyard. Today's ferry flight means that half of the German flag carrier's fleet is now in long-term storage. Some won't fly for Lufthansa again.We know for a fact that the number of Airbus A380s in the sky will be down following the current crisis. However, we don't yet know precisely how many giants will return to the skies. What we do know is that only a handful of the aircraft are currently operational. Given their size, airlines don't want to store their A380 fleets at major airports if they can avoid it.

Teruel storage

Teruel is a Spanish aircraft graveyard. It is located towards the east of the country, between Madrid and Barcelona. For many years airlines have used the facility as a place to send aircraft that they no longer wish to operate. However, recently Teruel has seen a large rush in demand.

Lufthansa has now sent half of its fleet to Teruel, with the other half remaining on the ground in Germany. Interestingly, the airline has chosen to send seven aircraft to the facility. The German carrier has said it was retiring six of its A380s.

It was assumed that these were the aircraft flying to Teruel. However, a seventh aircraft has now flown down for storage. This leaves Lufthansa with seven 'operational' A380s based in Germany. When these will next fly is currently anybody's guess.

Lufthansa, Airbus A380, Storage
Half of the airline's A380 fleet has now been sent to the Spanish aircraft graveyard. Photo: Lufthansa

It is additionally possible that the German flag carrier wishes to store more A380s. However, the space was not available. Lufthansa has already announced that its entire fleet of Airbus A340-600 aircraft will be sent to Teruel. Some of these won't return. If any do, they won't for at least a year.

Not alone

Lufthansa's seven stored Airbus A380s won't have to serve out their sentence on their own. As previously mentioned, Teruel has become incredibly popular with airlines recently as they look to store their un-needed widebody aircraft.

Lufthansa, Airbus A380, Storage
Lufthansa has 14 A380s, six of which will never fly again. Photo: Markus Zinner via Lufthansa

British Airways was one of the first to take advantage of the facility, sending five Boeing 747s down the airport in March. As IAG is considering early retirement for the 747, it is possible that these won't fly again.

Additionally, Air France has flown a couple of Airbus A380 aircraft to Teruel. The French flag carrier had intended to retire the giant of the skies over the coming years as it is. Now, when the airline announced its Q1 financial results, it confirmed that it was considering an accelerated retirement of the type.

Have you flown on one of Lufthansa's Airbus A380 aircraft? Let us know your favorite memory of the type in the comments!