A second Airbus A380 has been returned to service by Etihad Airways and is now flying to London's busy Heathrow Airport. The superjumbo, registered A6-API, took off on July 27, 2023, at 2:27 am local time (UTC +4) and arrived at 6:34 am local time (UTC +1) on Etihad Airways flight EY11. The airline grounded the A380 in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and this is the second aircraft of its kind to be returned to active duty. The return flight to Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH) on EY12 left LHR at 10:27 am local time (UTC +1) and arrived in the UAE capital at 7:41 pm local time (UTC +4).
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On August 1, 2023, Etihad Airways scheduled A6-API to fly the EY19 and EY20 itineraries, departing several hours after EY11 and returning in the early hours of August 2, 2023. Another active Airbus A380, registered as A6-APG, has been operating flight EY11 from AUH to LHR and the return journey, EY12, since the airline resumed service with the aircraft on July 25, 2023. The only exception was on July 27, 2023, when A6-APG returned to AUH on flight EY18. Unfortunately, the return of the A380 was marred by technical issues, temporarily taking the aircraft out of service.
On July 28, 2023, the A380 completed eight test flights lasting no longer than 30 minutes each. It is unclear why the aircraft underwent multiple test flights before it resumed the AUH-LHR route on July 29, 2023. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the state design authority, released two Airworthiness Directives (AD) in May and June 2023 regarding potential issues from long-term storage.
One AD mentioned that certain wing spar areas of the A380 could crack faster than expected if stored in "severe environmental conditions." EASA revised the inspection times to include Factored Time on the Ground (FTOG). Another AD stated that during a regular walk-around inspection of a stored A380 airplane, the left-hand body landing gear (BLG) rear axle had ruptured. Airlines were advised by the agency to replace the affected BLG rear axles with a serviceable part before returning the A380 to service.