Superjumbo stalled another year.
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DELIVERIES of Airbus's flagship A380 superjumbo will be delayed for up to another year after problems at the European manufacturer turned out to be worse than thought.
The extra delay is likely to put off the superjumbo's entry into service on the Singapore-Sydney route until later next year and see Qantas deliveries delayed well into 2008.
The board of Airbus parent company EADS met yesterday and was expected to confirm as early as today that the troubled program's third delay would be longer than airlines were initially led to believe. Deliveries are also expected to be slower.
Airbus insiders last month gave some hint of the extent of the problem when they warned that deliveries to Qantas and Emirates, already delayed twice, would not take place until the first quarter of 2008.
Speculation yesterday was that Airbus's new production schedule would mean those deliveries would now not take place until later that year, putting them two years behind.
There were also suggestions delivery of the first plane to Singapore Airlines would be put back from December to the second half of next year. Singapore had planned to launch the aircraft this year and had been running an extensive campaign telling people it would be first to fly the A380. The delay will force the launch airlines to find other planes to service planned A380 routes and angry carriers will claim further compensation, already estimated to be costing Airbus E2 billion ($3.4 billion). Qantas has already booked $104 million in compensation for the first two delays to its 12 A380s and has indicated it will seek additional compensation for further delays.
Another A380 delay would delay retirement of B747-400s in Singapore
dpa German Press Agency
Published: Tuesday October 3, 2006
Singapore- A third delay in the delivery of the Airbus 380 superjumbo jet would postpone Singapore Airlines' retirement of its fleet of Boeing 747-400s, company spokesman Stephen Forshaw said in a report published Tuesday.
"The consequences of the A380 delay is the inability to grow capacity on the flights where we would like to replace 747-400s with the larger A380s," Forshaw told The Business Times amid reports from Toulouse, France, that Airbus would soon be informing clients such as Singapore Airlines, Emirates Airline and Qantas Airways that the delivery schedule could be pushed back by up to another six months.
Member of: AA Exec Plat; QF LTG; PC Plat; HHonors Gold
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Re: Superjumbo stalled another year
looks like QF's plan to retire one of its 747-338s at the end of this year may have to be delayed. Though I expect that plan was timed around a major service requirement (C or D check) for VH-EBY or VH-EBV.
looks like QF's plan to retire one of its 747-338s at the end of this year may have to be delayed. Though I expect that plan was timed around a major service requirement (C or D check) for VH-EBY or VH-EBV.
They may have no choice. They are already stripping VH-EBU (Nalanji Dreaming) for parts and are short on parts for the Rolls-Royce RB211-5 24D4U engines. Just flat out bad planning by QF as they should have bought more 744's years ago and I will stick with my argument that if they had bought a fleet of A340 instead of A330 much of these problems would have been reduced.
They may at some stage have to reduce routes or numbers of services...or lease, but as discussed before that may be problematic.
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Member of: Qantas, Thai, Air New Zealand, AA, Asiana
Posts: 499
Re: Superjumbo stalled another year
Quote:
Originally Posted by maninblack
They may have no choice. They are already stripping VH-EBU (Nalanji Dreaming) for parts and are short on parts for the Rolls-Royce RB211-5 24D4U engines. Just flat out bad planning by QF as they should have bought more 744's years ago and I will stick with my argument that if they had bought a fleet of A340 instead of A330 much of these problems would have been reduced.
They may at some stage have to reduce routes or numbers of services...or lease, but as discussed before that may be problematic.
The A340 are much more expensive to run than the A330, especially fuel costs.
I am so glad that Qantas ordered the 747-400ER as some form of insurance against this, but way too few it turns out. Qantas will probably be looking at when some 747s will need a "D" check and deciding whether to pay for it or not. I do question if Airbus can keep to this schedule and that Qantas may now be considering the new 747-8i as a complementary order. The problem, the new 747 has not sold any passenger versions and the proposed EIS is around 2010.
Other options, not many second hand 747-400 around, A340 has terrible resale value and would be another type, A330 are certainly popular but with the 787 and the A350 the resale will be down, 777 a new type but large backlog of orders, more 787, they are too small and will take too long to deliver.
Certainly interesting times for Qantas planners and schedulers, and leaves us with the 767 plying those routes and any seat improvements delayed as well.
Certainly interesting times for Qantas planners and schedulers, and leaves us with the 767 plying those routes and any seat improvements delayed as well.
Just wondering based on that comment whether there is a plan to put some new J class seat in the A380 - some replacement (I fear to say enhancement) for the Skybed?
Just wondering based on that comment whether there is a plan to put some new J class seat in the A380 - some replacement (I fear to say enhancement) for the Skybed?
If the new seats to be rolled out on the CX fleet are anything to go by, the Skybed will be out of date next year (if not already).
Member of: Qantas, Asia Miles, Velocity, AAdvantage
Posts: 454
Re: Superjumbo stalled another year
I've just updated the Wikipedia article on the A380. Been battling with editors who couldn't supply an unambiguous source, and finally found one on Reuters. SIA seems to be saying nowt for the moment.
The first two for SIA are built, flown, tested, fitted out, so I'm wondering what the hold up is. It must be the wing.
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