Airbus A380 news

[regi]

I have no personnal idea about it. I followed this subject from the beginning although. It has always been claimed that there was a sustainable market for a very large passenger airplane. But that market was too small for 2 players. So it would be or the MD-12, or the B-NLA or the A3XX.

I don't know the books of Boeing, but I doubt that the B747-8i project is profitable as well.

A strategic question is if 1 project must be profitable . The development of a particular airplane can generate new technologies used to upgrade or develop others.

Coming back to the A380: I don't know how much the development of the A380 has contributed to the A350 and upgrade of the A320eo and A330neo.

An interesting question is " what if Airbus would not have launched the A380 ?"
Depending too much on 1 low paying customer is unhealthy.
Would Boeing been forced by Emirates to launch their double deck version? Who knows...

Another , more worrying question, is if the A380 program could ever reach its break even point. The nightmare of every manufacturer is that how many products they make, they lose money on each one.

[cnc]

well the A380 is above all airbus its flagship. It's a prestige aircraft for both airbus and its clients.
before the A380 i doubt much people in the western world could name any other player then boeing when asked about airplane manufacturers so its commercial value is comparable cristiano ronaldo & real madrid, ...
aside from the lessons they learned from the A380 project they idd also took a lot of new tech usable for other projects

[Passenger]

Japan's Skymark drops its A380 order

Skymark Airlines has reportedly abandoned a firm order with Airbus Industrie for six A380-800s. Quoting sources close to the talks, Bloomberg says the Japanese domestic carrier can no longer afford to take delivery of the jets and is currently in talks with the Europeans ranging from a possible delayed delivery to compensation should the order be cancelled outright.

Ordered in 2011, Skymark was to have become the first Japanese airline to operate the type. The first A380, JA380A (cn 162), was to have arrived in either August or September of this year with plans to use them on its maiden longhaul flights from Tokyo Narita to New York JFK and Europe.

Source: ch-aviation

The article of Bloomberg: http://t.co/7ZfVeB1w8L

Skymark is in serious trouble: they're going to close their Narita operations:

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/ ... 06_19.html

(there is also an mount mentionned in that article as cancellation penalty for the A380's: 680 mio USD)

[sn26567]

Asiana is the 8th airline to fly the A380 to Los Angeles LAX

[sn26567]

An interesting article from The New York Times on why the A380 doesn't sell better, despite the acclaim by passengers who have used it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/10/busin ... -a380.html

According to Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst, Va., the main problem is fundamental: Airbus made the wrong prediction about travel preferences. People would rather take direct flights on smaller airplanes, he said, than get on big airplanes that make connections through huge hubs.

A little more than a decade ago, Boeing and Airbus, looked at where their businesses were headed and saw similar facts: air traffic doubling every 15 years — and came to radically different conclusions about what those numbers meant for their future. Boeing figured that traffic would move away from big hubs and toward secondary airports. So it started to build a smaller, more fuel-efficient long-range aircraft, which became known as the 787 Dreamliner. Airbus, on the other hand, saw the rise of international traffic through major hubs and decided to bet on a big plane to connect those big airports.

And then, the A380 was introduced amid a deep downturn in the airline business.

Nevertheless, the A380 is ideal for congested airports like Heathrow: this summer, British Airways plans to replace three Boeing 747s flying each day between London and Los Angeles with two A380s, freeing one slot at Heathrow Airport for another flight.

If many airlines appear sceptical of the A380, Emirates is a true believer. “People get on the A380 and they absolutely love it,” says its CEO Tim Clark. The upper deck on the Emirates version, he adds, is “just one big party.” For Emirates, the biggest selling point of the A380 is its ability to pack in more business-class seats and create an environment that appeals to big-spending passengers: showers, a bar, etc..

[globetrotter]

Japan's Skymark drops its A380 order

Skymark Airlines has reportedly abandoned a firm order with Airbus Industrie for six A380-800s. Quoting sources close to the talks, Bloomberg says the Japanese domestic carrier can no longer afford to take delivery of the jets and is currently in talks with the Europeans ranging from a possible delayed delivery to compensation should the order be cancelled outright.

Ordered in 2011, Skymark was to have become the first Japanese airline to operate the type. The first A380, JA380A (cn 162), was to have arrived in either August or September of this year with plans to use them on its maiden longhaul flights from Tokyo Narita to New York JFK and Europe.

Source: ch-aviation

The article of Bloomberg: http://t.co/7ZfVeB1w8L

Skymark accuses Airbus http://flightclub.jalopnik.com/airbus-t ... 1613159020

[sn26567]

Do you know there are now 11 scheduled operators of the Airbus A380 which this month will serve 42 different destinations?

Complete list of operators and routes: http://www.routesonline.com/news/29/bre ... rk-update/

[Kapitein]

A nice article about the A380 OPS in LHR.
Not as easy as it seems.

http://aviationweek.com/commercial-a... ... s-heathrow

[sn26567]

Delivery of the first A380 for Etihad Airways, together with a stunning new livery (the facets of Abu Dhabi):

[CTBke]

this is it? what is that ... nothing compared to QR and EK ...

[RoMax]

I don't hate it, but I like their current/old paint more! At least I'm happy they kept the same basic color for most of the fuselage. When I saw the first pictures of the A380 tail and later the same on the 787-9 tail, I feared the worst.

[quixoticguide]

Better then the new China Eastern livery

Photo by Royal S King (@royalscottking)



In the meantime, Heathrow is not happy with too much Airbus A380.
http://aviationweek.com/commercial-avia ... s-heathrow

[sn26567]

Airbus says it may win new A380 customer by year-end

Airbus sees a "distinct possibility" of adding at least one new customer for its A380 superjumbo jet before the end of the year, the European planemaker's sales chief John Leahy told Reuters on Thursday.

Currently, Airbus has a total of 318 orders from 19 customers for the world's largest passenger jet, which is designed to carry 525 passengers.

He was speaking after Airbus on Wednesday revised down its demand forecast for the industry's largest category of aircraft, which includes the A380 and the Boeing 747-8, while revising up its overall 20-year jet demand forecast.

Airbus lost one of its existing A380 customers in July when it revoked an order for six A380s from Japan's Skymark Airlines, which faced difficulties financing its purchase.

It booked a previously announced order for 20 aircraft in February from leasing company Amedeo, leaving a net tally of 14 orders so far this year.

An order for 10 A380s from Hong Kong Airlines also hangs in the balance as the airline prepares to cancel the order, which has been moved to a part of the Airbus order book reserved for unnamed buyers.

However, Airbus is working on adding up to two new buyers for the double-decker jet in coming months.

Speculation surfaced at an industry conference this week that Turkish Airlines could lease some A380s, either from another airline or lessor Amedeo or both.

That would not immediately benefit Airbus directly but would be welcomed by the planemaker as a visible marketing boost.

More from Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/ ... OA20140926

[sn26567]

Some 15 A380s operate into London Heathrow every day. Emirates flies A380s on all five of its daily London – Dubai rotations, while Singapore Airlines uses the type on three of its four flights. And the number looks set to rise, with British Airways taking delivery of more A380s in the coming months, to be joined by Qatar Airways and Etihad in October and December, respectively.

[sn26567]

Since today, 29 September, the longest flight in the world (QF7) is operated on the largest commercial airliner in the world: the Qantas A380 flies non-stop from Sydney to Dallas-Fort Worth: 13,804 km in 16 hr 50 min !

[sn26567]

... and a famous person waving from the Qantas A380's cockpit at DFW: John Travolta. Not sure he was one of the pilots: his personal plane is a 707...

[galaxy]

Speaking about the 15-hour flight, the impressed American star added: 'I have been lucky enough to experience the Qantas A380 and it really is quiet and spacious.

He didn't fly the A380 himself

[sn26567]

Japan's Skymark drops its A380 order

Skymark Airlines has reportedly abandoned a firm order with Airbus Industrie for six A380-800s. Quoting sources close to the talks, Bloomberg says the Japanese domestic carrier can no longer afford to take delivery of the jets and is currently in talks with the Europeans ranging from a possible delayed delivery to compensation should the order be cancelled outright.

Skymark accuses Airbus http://flightclub.jalopnik.com/airbus-t ... 1613159020

Skymark Airlines is close to reaching a settlement regarding penalties it will have to pay for cancelled Airbus A380 orders. Airline executives appear to be optimistic negotiations with Airbus will yield a reduced cancellation fee.

Airbus terminated the order in July due to concerns about the carrier’s ability to make payments.

[sn26567]

Skymark Airlines has denied reports that it has reached agreement with Airbus over A380 cancellation penalty.

[sn26567]

Airbus A380 first female Captain (Kerstin Felser)