Emirates Says No A380 Flights Until 2008

airwise/reuters ^ | June 13, 2006 | staff

[saganite]

Dubai-based airline Emirates, the biggest customer for the world's biggest airliner, the Airbus A380, said on Tuesday that because of a further six month delay in deliveries, it would not be able to put the plane into operation before January 2008.

"We have been informed by Airbus that the delivery of our A380 aircraft will be delayed by six months. Emirates now expects to receive its first A380 in October 2007, to be put into operation in January 2008," an Emirates spokesman said.

"We are considering our position and will be engaging with the manufacturer over the next few weeks," he added.

[Spktyr]

Emirates has already expressed its unhappiness with Airbus' delays and problems.

My guess is that they're going to sign on for the new stretch 747 and some 787s.

[Turbopilot]

IIRC that's a sum total of something like 13 or 14 months delay over the original in-service date. I think Singapore Airlines (the launch customer) originally planned to start revenue service in March/April 2006 (as in, two months ago), and now it looks like they won't even get their first airplane until late 2007.

Aviation ping.

[saganite]

Sorry about the link. Please pull the post

[sionnsar]

The Airbus A380: The BIG PIG

[Gay State Conservative]

How 'bout some nice Boeing 747-400s? Trusted,tried and true for sure.The Queen of the Skies,in fact.

[fuyb]

Isn’t this done every six months?

[Paleo Conservative]

Emirates now expects to receive its first A380 in October 2007, to be put into operation in January 2008," an Emirates spokesman said.

Just after the Christmas hollidays. I'm sure they're thrilled.

I couldn't find any pictures of this plane in the air.

If you want on or off my aerospace ping list, please contact me by Freep mail.

[ArrogantBustard]

Just after the Christmas hollidays.

Do you think Emirates' customer base really gives a hoot about Christmas?

[cardinal4]

Thats an ugly airplane. Now the 747, that's pretty..

[Paleo Conservative]

Do you think Emirates' customer base really gives a hoot about Christmas?

Their customer base is not primarily the UAE. Do you think they have the population to fill 43 A380's 365 days a year? Emirates is geographically situated as a hub for Europe to South and Southeast Asia, and Australia; and Asia to Africa. I bet lots of people who would be flying between Sydney and London could have been filling seats during the holliday season in 2007.

[phantomworker]

I know someone who saw the rollout of the first A380 last year in Toulouse. I thought it was already two years behind schedule. So that makes customer delivery well into 2008.

[AGreatPer]

Saw a big Emirates sign on the sidelines at the World Cup Games. Emirates is much bigger than I thought. Gees, as big as McDonalds, Toshiba and Avaya?

BTW, I love getting these airplane posts. I sure don't know much about them but people like you have keet me up a bit on it. Thank You.

Here is a story never told. One day while taking off out of Boston, our L1011 had exactly the same problem that the Chicago disaster plane had. We were lucky. We did a big wide left turn and landed safely. We were lucky.

[NavyCanDo]

Sure has been a tough year for Airbus and it just keeps getting worse. But can someone please tell me why the Boeing stock has been taking a nose dive the last four weeks? Going from an all-time high on May 10 to what it is today. Just following the Dow? I was going to take the family to Wally World with the June 30th stock payout, but if the trend continues, I don't know.

[Turbopilot]

I think they're all sold out of those through the end of production sometime in 2009. Perhaps you'd be interested in the new 747-8 Intercontinental instead? :-p

[Spktyr]

Sure seems to be. Every six months, Airbus comes up with a reason to move delivery back another six months...

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

Just after the Christmas hollidays. I'm sure they're thrilled.

I don't think the emirates see a jump in travel miles around Christmas. Just a guess though.

[Turbopilot]

Keep in mind Emirates isn't the launch customer; Airbus is currently saying that the first airplane or two will be delivered to Singapore "on time" (as in the same as announced after the last delay, late 2007), although they won't get the rest of their initial order of 7 until 2008.

Of course, a 1- or 2-plane fleet is almost useless for a long-haul airline, and given Airbus' current problems who knows if they'll even have two in commercial service this year? The airplane isn't even FAA/JAA certified to carry passengers yet.

[cardinal4]

Do you think Emirates' customer base really gives a hoot about Christmas?

Uh, yeah. Until last year when Continental took over, Emirates was the top rated airline in the world. They won the award at least five times. In addition to a classy operation, they led the world in seat miles. So yeah, this could suck for Emirates Christmas planning..

[ArrogantBustard]

That makes sense. They probably are a bit peeved ...