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.
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.
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.
International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) could drop its A380 orders because of a lack of requests for the jumbo jet, CEO Steven Udvar-Hazy said.
According to Hazy, ILFC can cancel the order between January and June of 2010 without having to pay any penalties. In addition to an outright cancellation — which would be the first [...]
British Airways and Emirates will take delivery of an improved version of the Airbus A380 from 2012 offering a slightly better payload/range performance through a modest increase in maximum take-off weight.
Airbus will deliver just two more A380s this year than in 2008 after revealing plans to scale back production in the wake of the impact of the downturn on demand. It has also warned that the current tough trading conditions could require further changes.
The airframer says A380 deliveries in 2009 have been cut from 18 [...]
Airbus is working flat out to resolve A380 technical issues in the wake of a brief grounding of the Qantas fleet and concerns by Emirates about declining reliability.
“We’ve a number of unrelated issues that have brought down despatch reliability,” says Emirates Airline president Tim Clark, adding that the airframer has “gone overboard to sort things [...]
Air Austral, the airline based in Saint Denis, La Reunion, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Airbus for the purchase of two A380s in a single-class configuration. In such a configuration, the A380 will offer unprecedented level of fuel economy, further emphasising the eco-efficient nature of the aircraft.
In a single-class configuration the aircraft will [...]
Our A380 will be deployed on commercial service again as soon as possible,” Arabian Business quoted an airline official as saying.
… Dubai-based Emirates Airline has grounded its Airbus A380 plane, an online business news service reported.
Airlines, too, are looking to do their part, with Emirates saying it is scrubbing its cabin to contribute to the goal of reducing overall aircraft empty weight by 4-5 metric tons. … The engine enhancement and weight efforts are aimed at allowing the carrier to use the A380 more widely, with Emirates hoping it can stretch the aircraft range to allow flights to San Francisco with full passenger and freight loads.
