It’s not all good news in the airframe world, with Delta killing off its long-term 787 plans, and now Emirates are to delay delivery of 12 of their Airbus A380 aircraft
Emirates Airbus A380 at Birmingham Airport – Image, Economy Class and Beyond.
It seems that cash is tight – even for Emirates who reported a drop in its latest financial statements. The twelve aircraft (split into batches of six) will be delayed by a year or so:
- Six A380s that were due for delivery in 2017 will deferred for delivery in 2018
- Six A380s that were due for delivery in 2018 will be deferred for delivery until 2019
These aircraft were due to be fitted with Rolls Royce Engines.
According to Airbus who snuck out a PR they state:
Following an agreement reached between Emirates Airline and Rolls-Royce and a consecutive agreement between Emirates Airline and Airbus, the Toulouse based aircraft manufacturer is to adapt the A380 delivery stream with six aircraft deliveries postponed from 2017 to 2018 and six others from 2018 to 2019.
Airbus re-confirms the target to deliver around 12 A380s per year from 2018 as announced earlier in July 2016.
Further fixed cost reduction initiatives will be accelerated so the impact on break-even in 2017 is minimal.
Emirates is the largest customer of the Airbus A380, using it as the flagship and backbone of their long haul fleet – with 89 of the type in service, and 53 orders to be delivered.
With the A380 programme in a stagnate state (with production down to 12 aircraft a year), this probably wasn’t the news that Airbus wanted – rather Airbus would like the deliveries and orders to flow on schedule, whilst convincing airlines to take on more of the double-decker aircraft.
It’s not a total hammer blow to the programme, but Airbus will need to look again how to sell this plane to airlines, how it can convince them that the Airbus A380 is the right fit for them.
Or will the A350 do to the A380 what the 777 did to the 747? Only time will tell.
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