AIRBUS A 380–ANOTHER TITANIC?
Airbus Scraps Target of 30 A380 Sales as Demand Dwindles
By Andrea Rothman and Robert Wall, from BLOOMBERG
Airbus SAS abandoned a target of selling 30 A380 superjumbo jets this year, as airlines opt for smaller, less-expensive airliners in an economic slump.
Airbus’s John Leahy said today at the Farnborough air show, “The big aircraft market has been slowing down.”
“The big aircraft market has been slowing down,” Airbus Sales Chief John Leahy said in an interview at the Farnborough air show today. The target of 30 is “looking like a stretch at this point but when you set your goals at the beginning of the year you can’t change them. Let’s see how close we can get.”
Airbus has struggled with its flagship model, after cracks emerged in wing components and output in the first half only reached a third of the annual goal of 30 deliveries.
The A380, which typically seats about 520 passengers on two decks, is Airbus’s response to Boeing Co. (BA)’s 747 jumbo. That plane’s latest variant, the 747-8, has also failed to sustain the momentum of earlier versions, with Chicago-based Boeing booking the last orders for the humpbacked jet one year ago
Qantas Airways Ltd. (QAN) and Singapore Airlines Ltd. have both had to repair A380s after fissures were found in wing parts. While the aircraft is safe to fly with the cracks, repair work has cost Airbus more than a quarter of a billion euros and damaged the image of the world’s largest commercial aircraft. Emirates is the biggest customer for the A380, having ordered a total of 90 units, with a list price of $389.9 million apiece.
Dr. Pinna says:
I wouldn’t fly in this aircraft. Eventually those “cracks” will cause a fatal crash.
See my earlier articles on the A380.
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