[0] http://www.traveller.com.au/first-retired-a380-superjumbo-pa...
[1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/news/leasing-company-force...
[0] http://www.traveller.com.au/first-retired-a380-superjumbo-pa...
[1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/news/leasing-company-force...
Most airframes - the A380 is an exception - can be readily resold or leased on a liquid market. There's big depreciation over the first few years, sure, but operating costs are bigger than capital costs, and newer aircraft are less thirsty for fuel. Airlines purchasing aircraft also usually get big discounts, and have specialist financial institutions willing to front up the capital and eat some of the downside risk on the depreciation. Airlines leasing aircraft typically do so for periods of more like five years, with lease extensions at their discretion.
Those leases will typically cover the costs of the aircraft, so the leasing company will basically get a 12 year old airplane for free that they can use to generate a profit from (lease, sell or part out) as they wish. Though there does not seem to be any demand for used 380s right now. The one Singapore Airlines has returned (for an entirely new one on a new lease) is currently in storage without engines. Apparently the parts are worth 100 million dollars. It will be interesting to see how that continues to play out when more leases end, since it's unlikely that there will be buyers for say 200 planes worth of spare parts when ony 100 planes are still in service...
The lifespan of a plane tends to have more to do with the number of pressurization cycles it goes through (and the number of take-offs and landings) - they go together, after all. Pressurizing the plane stresses the plane, and eventually the frame just can't be trusted, no matter how good the airline is at maintaining the plane. Short-haul flights (say going back and forth between New York and Washington D.C.) could conceivably manage 5 round trips a day or more, which is much more stress than a plane flying one round trip per day between New York and London.
Even most planes used for short-haul flights would be expected to last more than 10 years, and planes used for long-haul flights can be used for 30 years by major airlines. But keep in mind that airlines will certainly replace planes earlier if a newer plane has enough efficiency gains that will allow costs to recouped more quickly.
Singapore Air returning this plane already (and there's a second as well) means that the plane simply isn't profitable (or profitable enough) for them to keep flying. Most likely whatever route this plane was used for will continue with a smaller flight that costs less to fly.
They returned a plane at the end of its lease and got a newly built one on a new lease as a replacement. They are doing the same with their 4 remaining planes that are nearing the end of their leases. They seem to be happy with the 380.
They were leasing that A380, and now they'll lease a newer and more efficient A380. The new one will be for sure more profitable for them, but you can't deduce the old one wasn't profitable.
I also expect that keeping #1 would have a lower lease cost, but a higher maintenance and insurance cost.
That's not entirely true, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatigue_limit
"Ferrous alloys and titanium alloys have a distinct limit, an amplitude below which there appears to be no number of cycles that will cause failure."
The problem is that just about every airline sophisticated to operate an A380 has either bought (at least) as many as they need (Qantas, Air France, etc.) or made a strategic decision that the A380 is not the plane for them (Cathay, the US big 3, etc.). There's a rumor that BA might pick of a few of the used frames, but that's it - and they only have (IIRC) 6, so it's not like that will make much of a dent in the market even if they double their fleet size.