If you want on or off my aerospace ping list, please contact me by Freep mail.
Posted on 10/03/2006 7:55:28 AM PDT by Paleo Conservative
The biggest customer for Airbus' flagship A380 superjumbo says it is reviewing its options after being told of further delays to the plane.
Emirates said it has been advised of a further 10-month delay to its order, warning it could change its strategy.
The airline said it had been told it would not now get the first of its 43 aircraft until August 2008.
"It's a very serious issue," Emirates' president Tim Clarke said. "The company is now reviewing all its options."
Germany's national carrier Lufthansa has been told it faces an extra year's wait - with the first of its 15 planes not available until summer 2009.
Virgin, which has ordered six A380s, said it had been given details of the delays but was awaiting an official announcement from Airbus before commenting further.
However Airbus said that it "could not elaborate on any details of private customer information on delivery timetables".
Penalty demand
The development of the A380 has been blighted by delays, partly linked to wiring problems - the cause of an earlier delay announced in June.
The 12bn euro ($14bn; £8bn) project is already more than a year late.
The planemaker has sold 159 of the $250m jets to 16 airlines including Emirates, Virgin, Air France and Qantas, many of whom are likely to demand penalties for late delivery of the aircraft.
The A380 will be the world's largest airliner - able to seat more than 800 passengers.
Have faith
Cancelled orders would be a blow to the programme - which is responsible for thousands of British jobs,
The GMB union, which represents many of those working on the A380 in the UK, urged airlines to have faith with the project.
"GMB believe that the delay is due to teething problems with the internal wiring circuits to operate the ancillary equipment such as the entertainment portals. It has nothing to do with the plane flying," said GMB national officer Keith Hazelwood.
"We are calling on the airlines with orders for the plane to bear with the teething problem. The A380 is a revolutionary project in civil air transport which will be a great success with the travelling public."
A380 ORDERS SO FAR Emirates: 43 aircraft
Lufthansa: 15
Qantas: 12
Air France: 10
Singapore Airlines: 10
Fedex: 10
International Lease Finance: 10
UPS: 10
Thai Airways: 6
Virgin Atlantic: 6
Korean Air Lines: 5
Etihad Airways: 4
Qatar Airways: 2
China Southern Airlines: 5
Kingfisher Airlines: 5
Malaysia Airlines: 6
If you want on or off my aerospace ping list, please contact me by Freep mail.
In related news, the cow jumped over the moon.
You know, I'm no aviation expert but something has got to be very wrong with the plane if it has already flown once and it won't be until mid 2008 before the first customer can get an operational plane. This slides the schedule so far out that the 787 will be flying with customers at about the same time.
Any idea how many orders are for big box configs as opposed to cattle car config?
Freight vs. Passenger.
Hey idiots, it doesn't matter if it's not shipping because they can't decide whether or not to hang fuzzy dice in the cockpit. Time is money, and the rest of the world doesn't want to subsidize your company.
I know FedEx REALLY wants these planes as soon as possible.
I wish there was a Airbus / Boeing (A380 vs 787) ping list. I smile every time I see a story about the development of that Eurotrash.
I wonder if the one that flew has undisclosed control problems.
I wonder if they simply used some other airbus computer program to fly the thing with fly by wire systems they use.
(there is a real time vs windows joke in there but it is still under airbus development)
I think AirBus needs to have the a380 do a barrel roll just like boeing did with their passenger jet.
Nobody has been talking about weight/performance/payload for a while. Did they ever solve the weight problem? I thought this aircraft was coming in significantly heavier than promised.
You may be right. I think "gridlock" is on to something. I think there might be a weight issue. This would throw the efficiency out the window. I suspect, and I'm just guessing, that the efficiency of the 380 is *way* below what they were hoping for. Because Boeing is pushing super-efficient planes, and b/c customers want that, Airbus may have realized that they've got to correct this first if the per seat cost is substantially higher than the 787. Otherwise, everyone will flock to the 787 regardless of overall plane capacity.
That makes a very very bold assumption. Believe me.
Well, the 787 may be delayed as well, but the delays with the 380 are so great that it is conceivable, at least, that the two planes will be available at about the same time. I really think there is more to this than "wiring". If the actual per seat cost is comparable to a 747, then Airbus has got major problems.
Smokin'!
The A380 will be the world's largest airliner - able to seat more than 800 passengers.
Maybe I'm out of touch but I don't find flying with 799 others a good thing. No way am I ever going to fly on one of these monsters.
From Traffic World regarding the Freighter version:
A Jumbo Delay
10/2/2006
John D. Boyd
Associate Editor
Traffic World
The latest in a string of delays in Airbus's "superjumbo" A380 program is prompting concern among the manufacturer's freighter customers, including UPS and FedEx.
Previous delays have been isolated to the passenger model, but the latest delay, which involves wiring harness systems found in both passenger and freighter models, could hit the freighter program.
After showing little alarm at earlier delays that plagued the passenger line, FedEx and UPS were clearly more cautious at the warnings of new problems in the program, saying they were waiting to see if a new Airbus review would also delay their orders and send the largest cargo airlines scrambling for other types of equipment in coming years.
Airbus parent EADS issued a statement saying while problems in A380 production were "being tackled" Airbus was still assessing the full impact. "From what is known today, there will be further delays" in the A380 program, EADS said.
An Airbus spokeswoman said the company is conducting a review and "it remains to be seen how the freighter will be affected. Our CEO will come out with a statement in a few weeks, but right now we don't have any specifics." She said the review might be complete by early October.
The growing problems with the triple-decker aircraft prompted an upheaval in Airbus management and raised new questions about an ambitious program to launch a new aircraft. The plane would offer radically different new operating economics but also requires large investment in airport infrastructure and equipment to handle its massive airframe.
FedEx Express, a launch customer, and UPS have each ordered 10 of the aircraft, and it was slated to reach the FedEx fleet first in 2008. The latest A380 problems apparently were again in production of the wiring systems, EADS said, but the companies this time would not say if those issues were limited to the entertainment module or to the main wiring system.
Asked if FedEx might see its A380 freighter deliveries back up, spokesman Maury Lane said, "I guess that's a question for Airbus to answer. It is concerning."
UPS spokesman Mark Giuffre said UPS was assured its order was still on schedule just days before the EADS statement last month. Now, he said, "we see these announcements and we see they are going through their assessments, and so we are monitoring it very closely.
"The potential you look at is that there still could be delays," Giuffre said
Emirates has already swapped an order for two of the freighters for passenger editions and officials at the Middle East airline are reported to be increasingly concerned about the status of their huge order for more than 40 passenger A380s.
Boeing has been racking up orders for 747-400 converted freighters and the 747-8, an update of the 747 that Boeing focused on after Airbus made its bid for an entirely new, larger aircraft.
The carriers would not say if they are considering placing new orders to fill a potential gap from Airbus. Giuffre said UPS always has contingency plans and already has a staggered delivery plan for different types of planes. Now, "we're looking at alternate plans" to be ready if Airbus says the freighter won't be on schedule, he said.
Meanwhile, once the latest delay news broke, a Emirates spokeswoman said things were "up in the air" with its order, valued at some $13 billion. That triggered speculation Emirates could seek compensation or even bail out of its order altogether, which could possibly kill the plane's further development. Airline President Tim Clark said Emirates had taken no position on those issues and was waiting for Airbus to clarify its delivery schedule.
Given the wake problems making airports clear space behind the A380 and the threat that the A380 may be charged two of the all important landing slots instead of one at busy airports that may be coming true.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.