An Airbus A380 that used to fly for Malaysia Airlines has been ferried from France to the United Arab Emirates in an unexpected move that has captured the imagination of the online avgeek community. The quadjet previously bore the registration 9M-MNF, but it is now designated as 2-JAYN.
After its withdrawal by Malaysia Airlines, the double-decker widebody had spent almost three years in storage at Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrénées Airport (LDE) in southwestern France before yesterday’s journey to Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH). However, those keeping tabs on the jet had noted in the preceding days that it had been airborne operating a test flight, indicating that a move may have been imminent.
A Long Time On The Ground
According to fleet data made available by ch-aviation, 9M-MNF was one of six Airbus A380s that flew for Malaysia Airlines between 2012 and 2022. All of these quadjets ended up in storage in France after their withdrawal by the oneworld member in favor of smaller Airbus widebody twinjets such as the A330neo and A350, with data from Planespotters.net showing that 9M-MNF was ferried to Tarbes in December 2022.
By then, the aircraft had already been in storage for more than two years at the Malaysian flag carrier’s Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL) hub, with the onset of coronavirus having accelerated the A380’s retirement at the airline. Since moving to Tarbes, the jet has been owned by Airbus Financial Services and re-registered as EI-HKF and 2-JAYN, but why it has relocated to the UAE remains unknown.
Simple Flying has reached out to Airbus for further information regarding 2-JAYN’s relocation to Abu Dhabi. We will update our coverage if and when a statement is received.
Back In The Air
In recent days, there has been a buzz of interest around 2-JAYN, with data made available by Flightradar24 showing that, on September 26, the ex-Malaysia Airlines Airbus A380 operated a circular test flight from Tarbes lasting almost three hours. As pictured above, it no longer bears the carrier’s logo, but does still feature its dark blue stripes, as well as the special ‘100th A380’ decal towards the front.
This hinted that it was being prepared for reactivation, with these rumors going up a notch yesterday when, as noted by aeroTELEGRAPH, the jet flew for six hours and 35 minutes from its French exile in Tarbes to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. Here, it touched down at 17:03 local time.
Per aeroTELEGRAPH, it is not yet publicly known why the jet, which is now valued at just $31 million compared to its original list price of more than $400 million, has been ferried to the UAE. However, the publication speculates that it may have been purchased by another A380 as a source of spare parts or to boost its own fleet, with an acquisition by a private customer also not completely out of the question.
The Aircraft Taxied To An Engineering Area In Abu Dhabi
The exact location of 2-JAYN’s final destination for its flight from Tarbes to Abu Dhabi could give us a slight hint as to what lies next for the giant quadjet. Indeed, a report by Flightradar24 on the matter noted that “upon landing, the aircraft taxied to the Etihad Engineering area of the airport.”
This, according to the site, is where Etihad Airways maintains its own fleet of Airbus A380 planes. As such, the ex-Malaysia Airlines quadjet will be in good hands in the United Arab Emirates, with Flightradar24 speculating that it is likely there for maintenance of its own, but ahead of what?
While there is a chance, Flightradar24 notes, that Etihad itself may be looking to add the plane to its existing fleet of Airbus A380 quadjets, the flag carrier of the United Arab Emirates may also have simply been contracted by Airbus to work on the aircraft for another customer. Either way, its reappearance in the skies has fanned the flames of curiosity among avgeeks, and it will be interesting to see what’s next.