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Airbus faces A380 debacle
By Volker K. Thomalla
“We expect clarification and specific statements regarding the A380 delivery dates,” said a spokesperson for Singapore Airlines after Airbus's parent company, EADS, stated in the middle of September that there would be further delays to deliveries of the new Airbus flagship. When the programme was originally launched, Singapore Airlines had assumed that its first A380 would be available to commence scheduled operations in March 2006. Now it seems that the first aircraft will be delivered at the end of December 2006, but that there are unlikely to be any flights with paying passengers before the end of April 2007. Airbus has also had to drastically slash the number of planned deliveries for 2007. Originally it was planned that 25 A380's would be handed over to customers in the course of the next year. The number of deliveries for 2007 was already reduced to nine after Airbus disclosed the problems it was having with the wiring in the early summer of 2006. Latest, albeit unconfirmed, reports suggest that the figure could be as low as four.
Although the A380 has lately been getting more negative headlines than Airbus and EADS would like, the early disclosure of the new delays is also a sign of the new transparency which the two companies are evidently trying to achieve. Only with this transparency will it be possible to appease the customers and restore the confidence in the company. The Airbus A380 is one of those aircraft projects which have been greeted by the public from their inception with sympathy and massive enthusiasm, as demonstrated, for example, by the huge numbers of visitors at all the public airshows at which the A380 has appeared.
Virtually every major commercial aircraft project has had its problems, and the A380 is no exception. After all, the Boeing 747 initially had engine problems which resulted in delivery delays, while the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 turned out to have a lower range than had been promised, to the consternation of its launch customers. Airbus has taken a knock over the A380. According to industry sources, the problems have mainly been to do with the wiring and have taken longer to solve than expected. Until these problems are finally solved, the ramp-up to series production cannot commence. The new Airbus CEO, Christian Streiff, and his management team are under a lot of pressure as the customers will hardly accept further slippage.
Despite all the delivery delays, the A380 is a very successful aircraft. A delay in deliveries costs both manufacturer and customers money, but it does not mean that it will not be possible to deploy the aircraft as envisaged. FLUG REVUE test pilot Steffen Gemsa was convinced of this during a flight in the new megaliner in Toulouse. He is one of the first pilots to be allowed to fly the biggest commercial aircraft in the world who was not employed by Airbus, a certification authority or an airline customer.
From FLUG REVUE 11/2006
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