Late last week, our custom alert for “A380s near Tarbes” pinged with an interesting movement. MSN 114, the 100th A380 built and formerly operated by Malaysia Airlines, turned its transponder on for the first time in nearly three years.
Why is it MSN 114, but only the 100th A380 built? Manufacturer serial numbers are assigned early in the production process and changes can result in aircraft being built out of sequence. For instance, the first A380 originally destined for FedEx was assigned MSN 037 before the airline canceled their order in 2006.
A380 MSN 114
MSN 114 first flew in late 2012 was delivered to Malaysia Airlines as 9M-MNF in March 2013. The aircraft flew with Malaysia Airlines until 2020 when the airline placed its entire fleet of six A380s into storage due to the pandemic. After trying to sell its A380 fleet from July 2021 onward, Malaysia was able to get Airbus to take the aircraft back as part of the airline’s purchase agreement for 20 A330-900neos.
9M-MNF departed Kuala Lumpur for storage in Tarbes, France on 19 December 2022. Now owned by Airbus Financial Services, MSN 114 remained in deep storage at the Tarmac Aerosave facility from December 2022 until September 2025.
Bringing MSN 114 back to life
On 25 September 2025, MSN 114, now wearing the registration 2-JAYN, turned its transponder on for the first time in nearly three years and performed a rejected take off, reaching a maximum speed of 107 knots. The following day, the A380 conducted a two hour, 55 minute long maintenance test flight, climbing up to 43,000 feet.
Now it gets interesting
On 1 October, MSN 114 was ferried to Abu Dhabi where Etihad Airways has a large A380 maintenance facility. Upon landing, the aircraft taxied to the Etihad Engineering area of the airport.
We’ve previously visited Etihad’s Abu Dhabi hangar to see how the airline maintains the world’s largest passenger aircraft. You can view that video below for a behind the scenes look at A380 heavy maintenance.
What’s next for this A380?
With the aircraft now in Abu Dhabi, presumably for additional maintenance, what happens next? Could Etihad be preparing to induct this A380 into its fleet of seven A380s? Or is it perhaps performing work on behalf of Airbus or another customer? Let us know in the comments what you think is in store for this SuperJumbo.
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