While German major airline Lufthansa is backing away from its four-engine retirement plans Airbus A340-600 e Boeing 747-400Some units have restarted after the official announcement that they are no longer in use, and it is clear that the huge Airbus A380s in its fleet will not have the same chance of remaining operational.

The airline is setting up an early retirement program, in which its pilots 55 and older can participate voluntarily, rather than waiting until the minimum standard age. However, in the special case of the pilots of the A380, the world’s largest passenger aircraft, there is a special bonus to encourage their participation.

Information from the German portal aero.de, who gained access to an internal document that Lufthansa sent to its crew. According to the statement, pilots “of an Airbus A380 that will no longer be used by Lufthansa” will receive a special bonus of 35,000 euros (about 218,000 riyals) for their participation in the volunteer programme.

In its latest operational release aimed at the financial market, the company continued to place a special note on the A380, stating that the model is in “long-term storage”, while other models, such as the A340 and 747-400, have just indicated that they will be taken out of service. .

Now, this latest internal move appears to indicate that the company does not want to continue to incur the high cost of the giant’s top pilots, in its operating expenses, until the planes are permanently taken out of inventory to draw down the German fleet.

Also according to aero.de, in addition to the pilots of the A380, the total number of crew members of the entire fleet over 55 years of age – and therefore eligible for early retirement – is about 850 pilots, with an estimated expenditure of 24 million euros to fund the programme.