Plane Nation

Airbus has opted to develop its A350-800 as a shrink version of the -900, an adjustment aimed at simplifying the program.

The fact that Airbus could only deliver 10 vs the 12 (and that 12 was down from the 45 that Airbus had promised only a couple of years ago) that was promised in 2009 shows that this is a program in deep, deep trouble. Cost have increased and that only means that the breakeven amount for Airbus has only increased.

Emirates Airline аחԁ Airbus mаrkеԁ a major achievement bу celebrating tһе hand-over οf tһе 6,000th aircraft іח tһе airframe manufacturer’s 40-year-history. Tһе aircraft, аח A380, wаѕ handed over tο Emirates Airline іח a ceremony іח Hamburg, Germany. Tһе aircraft іѕ Emirates’ eighth A380.
Accepting delivery οf tһе חеw aircraft, Adel Al Redha, executive vice president, Emirates’ [...]

Airbus announced on Sunday at the show that it would offer winglets for its A320 family aircraft starting with an order from Air New Zealand in 2012 that would improve fuel burn by 3.5%.

Taking off from Toulouse-Blagnac Airport’s Runway 32 at just after 10:00 a.m. local time, the A330-200F performed a 4-hour maiden airborne evaluation that was completed with its return to the southwestern France facility for a flyby, followed by a touch-and-go maneuver and the final landing. On the flightdeck of the Pratt & Whitney PW4000-powered freighter (MSN 1004) for the 3h 50min flight were Airbus test pilots Philippe Perrin and Martin Scheuermann, accompanied by test-flight engineers Wolfgang Brueggemann, Stephane Vaux and Pascal Verneau.

Air France takes delivery of its first Airbus A380 double-decker jet fitted with a lounge bar and on-demand video, luxuries that have complicated assembly of the plane already plagued by production delays. … “The other issue is that customers clearly don’t want the plane now as much as they wanted it a year or two ago.”    For now it seems like Airbus just wants to do some complaining, and the company is not really offering any solutions.

Airbus will invest more than €400 million (£358.9 million) in the UK in the next 12 months as it prepares to start production on its latest aircraft, the A350XWB. Airbus has started work on constructing a 46,000 sq m factory at its site in Broughton, North Wales, and is recruiting suppliers to the project.

My information is that UAL executives are spending a great deal of time in Toulouse and, oddly, but persuasively if true, the November board meeting is scheduled to be held in Paris. Sounds too good a rumour to be true, and yet, and yet, when USAirways defected to Airbus for long-haul a few years back the news very nearly leaked because CEO Stephen Wolf was spotted in Paris 24 hours before the announcement.

Singapore Airlines has reached an agreement with Airbus to defer the delivery of eight Airbus A380s that it has on order, by between six months and a year. … Under the revised delivery schedule, however, Airbus will deliver the 12th aircraft in October 2010 rather than April 2010.

American Airlines on Monday operated its final flight with an Airbus A300 jet, retiring the model it pioneered more than two decades ago when it could not get Boeing 767s quickly enough to meet its needs. At one time, American flew 35 of the wide-body aircraft, but the airline has been phasing out the older planes as it trims capacity.