Airbus facing a tough battle ahead

Stepha380 · Post by **Stepha380** » 11 Jul 2006, 23:19

CX wrote:I didn't say 'cancel', but 'threaten to cancel'... like finnair threaten to cancel their 60 A350 orders..

I don't think we have read the same article, I put a small excerpt because it is impossible to link it because of a " 's " in the adress.

Jukka Hienonen (Finnair CE) said there were no plans to review the selection of the A350, despite the uncertainty. He said the airline is “pretty calm with the issue” of potentially extensive changes to the aircraft. While the timetable for introduction “might be a discussion subject”, he said that Finnair is a long-term customer of Airbus and has confidence in the manufacturer. “If Airbus has to redesign it, then it will only be a better aircraft,” said Hienonen, pointing out that Finnair has not been among those pressing for modifications. “We bought the aircraft as it was. The specification has not been changed because of our desires.”

Flight International June 13th 2006

CX · Post by CX » 12 Jul 2006, 04:39

Stepha380 wrote:
CX wrote:I didn't say 'cancel', but 'threaten to cancel'... like finnair threaten to cancel their 60 A350 orders..
I don't think we have read the same article, I put a small excerpt because it is impossible to link it because of a " 's " in the adress.

Jukka Hienonen (Finnair CE) said there were no plans to review the selection of the A350, despite the uncertainty. He said the airline is “pretty calm with the issue” of potentially extensive changes to the aircraft. While the timetable for introduction “might be a discussion subject”, he said that Finnair is a long-term customer of Airbus and has confidence in the manufacturer. “If Airbus has to redesign it, then it will only be a better aircraft,” said Hienonen, pointing out that Finnair has not been among those pressing for modifications. “We bought the aircraft as it was. The specification has not been changed because of our desires.”

Flight International June 13th 2006

That might be a less harsh version of what Finnair said, but i'm sure they said something like 'the redesign will heavily disrupt our expansion plans' and they 'might' look for something else to fill the gap.. and also said something like 'we have ordered something that doesn't exist' ... i didn't make them up, i'm sure I read it.

fokker_f27 · Post by **fokker_f27** » 12 Jul 2006, 11:56

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5168064.stm
An article written by BBC. I'm not sure if this has been posted yet.

CX · Post by CX » 12 Jul 2006, 14:20

all i can say for the A380 at th emoment is, if airlines will be flying their routes exactly the same way as they are now, then A380 will surely not be a huge success in aviation history, but what is to be counted on is the way the A380 may change strategies for airlines... I don't know how but part of it will surely be about superhubs... Boeing says the future is about 'direct flights' in smaller volume, but what if it is cheaper to do it the superhub way? I can imagine you fly an A380 past the destination to a big airport and then transfer to get BACK to the destination, and pay 20% less. No one will say the A380, or even a stretched A380 will be too big then..

Stepha380 · Post by **Stepha380** » 12 Jul 2006, 14:28

They're not going to stop building the 330 while they wait around for the 370.

The A357(stop this suspens

) will be built where the A300 is currently built.

CX · Post by CX » 12 Jul 2006, 14:50

probably didn't get your joke... but.. 8)

anyway i do not believe Airbus will improve the 330 because they simply can't.. they would rather concentrate their energy on 320/370/380 which are vitally important for its future.. OK Airbus can improve the A330 like they are planning to do with the A340 Enhanced, but still it will be pretty much useless against the 787 since even a 'heavily heavily modified' A330 (A350) was scrapped...

achace · Post by **achace** » 14 Jul 2006, 12:33

Boeing have just admitted to a 2.5% weight issue with the 787, just to address lightning strikes. It sounds crazy. Are they surrounding it with a copper screen?

It makes Airbus problems seem just a little less critical

Cheers
Achace

PYX · Post by **PYX** » 14 Jul 2006, 18:02

Did you read the entire story?
While this weight increase is more than Boeing wanted, the aircraft will still be below the specifications used by Boeing to sell the 787 to the airlines. Boeing usually errs on the conservative side of an issue. Here,
"Boeing said it is not sure it will be able to meet the target weight of the 787, but the plane will be within the weight promised to airline customers..."
Story here:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/ ... air12.html

bits44 · Post by **bits44** » 22 Jul 2006, 15:04

Just when things were starting to look up, Airbus has been hit with another delay!

http://www.playfuls.com/news_03568_New_ ... Says_.html

Stepha380 · Post by **Stepha380** » 22 Jul 2006, 15:48

If you want to play the game of the quotes, at least quote correctly, the article says "The Airbus A380 super-jumbo jet has been hit by a new technical problem". A problem doesn't mean a delay, there are thousands of problems everyday worldwide, you just need to resolve them to be on schedule.
This article doesn't state "deliveries will be delayed again".

Boeing has lots of problem with the 787 too, but it is still on schedule according to PR.

bits44 · Post by **bits44** » 22 Jul 2006, 16:30

Sorry I'm not a child, I am a professional pilot with 30 years of experience in aviation, I don't play games when aviation is concerned, the contents of the report will be revealed on monday, make your own decicion then. in the meantime don't be so defensive.

KT

Stepha380 · Post by **Stepha380** » 22 Jul 2006, 16:52

Airbus has been hit with another delay!

It is just completely misleading.

Experience has nothing to do with discipline, and sometimes it is the opposite.

lastrow · Post by **lastrow** » 22 Jul 2006, 17:11

well, the link posted by bits44 (playfuls?) actually cites "Der Spiegel", a German weekly. The online version of this posting can be accessed here

http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/0,1518,428045,00.html

it basically says "not only problems with wiring" but also "problems occurred on test flights at secion 19 of the fuselage", "as a consequence referring parts of the section 19 will be strengthed".

Just for you "to decide" before Monday:

- "Der Spiegel" cites an internal report from Airbus. No infos on what kind of report and how they got it.

- According to this report, the issue has been discussed in March this year and the necessary modifications to apply were already decided in March as well.

thus, no idea for me why this problem results in a delay. The article does not say (and maybe does not know) whether the modifications are ongoing or not. Maybe modifications were finished already. "From March to now," sounds possible to me, doesn't it?

After reading bits44 comments for a while here, I realise that bits44 has not lost his "quick-shot-bad-news-for-Airbus" attitude.

-lr.

bits44 · Post by **bits44** » 24 Jul 2006, 01:47

Airbus Chief Christian Streiff has released some information on the makeup of the 350XWB:

http://www.netcomposites.com/news.asp?3866