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Airbus scraps A380 superjumbo jet as sales slump

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European aircraft manufacturer Airbus has pulled the plug on its struggling A380 superjumbo, which entered service just 12 years ago.

Airbus said last deliveries of the world's largest passenger aircraft, which cost about $25bn (£19.4bn) to develop, would be made in 2021.

The decision comes after Emirates, the largest A380 customer, cut its order.

The A380 faced fierce competition from smaller, more efficient aircraft and has never made a profit.
What has prompted Airbus' decision?

What has prompted Airbus' decision?


The A380's future had been in doubt for several years as orders dwindled. But in a statement on Thursday, Airbus said the "painful" decision to end production was made after Emirates reduced its latest order. The Dubai-based airline is cutting its overall A380 fleet size from 162 to 123.

Emirates said it would take delivery of 14 further A380s over the next two years, but has also ordered 70 of Airbus' smaller A330 and A350 models.

"Emirates has been a staunch supporter of the A380 since its very inception," said the airlines' chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum. "While we are disappointed to have to give up our order, and sad that the programme could not be sustained, we accept that this is the reality of the situation," he added.

The order cut meant keeping production going was not viable, said Airbus chief executive Tom Enders, who is due to step down in April.

There was "no basis to sustain production, despite all our sales efforts with other airlines in recent years" he said.

Airbus has taken a €463m charge for shutdown costs, but it is expected that the repayment of government loans could be waived to help cushion the blow.

The aerospace giant said the financial impact of the decision was "largely embedded" in the firm's 2018 results, which showed a net profit for 2018 of €3bn (£2.6bn) up nearly 30% from the previous year.

Airbus said it would deliver between 880 and 890 new commercial aircraft this year.

What does it mean for jobs?

Airbus said it would start discussions with partners regarding the "3,000 to 3,500 positions potentially impacted over the next three years".

The BBC understands that around 200 jobs in the UK could be under threat from the decision.

Airbus confirmed it hopes to redeploy a "significant" number of affected staff to other projects.

Mr Enders said: "It needs to be evaluated. It's clear we make a lot of wings in Britain and a few wings for the A380.

"Hopefully we can redeploy a significant number of our employees there and re-use also the infrastructure."

Airbus UK makes the wings for its wide variety of aircraft in the UK. The company employs about 6,000 staff at its main wings factory at Broughton in Flintshire, as well as 3,000 at Filton, near Bristol, where wings are designed and supported.

Parts of the A380 are manufactured in France, Germany, Spain, and the UK, with final assembly and finishing split between Toulouse and Hamburg.

Airbus had already cut staffing as A380 orders dried up, and the future of employment at the company very much now depends on the success of its new generation of aircraft.

Unite, the largest union representing aerospace workers in the UK and Ireland, said it was "bitterly disappointed" by the news, adding it would seek "urgent assurances" from Airbus that there would be no job losses because of the decision.

"We are of the firm belief that with a full order book in single aisle planes, such as the A320, that our members affected can be redeployed on to other work in Airbus," said Rhys McCarthy, Unite's national officer for aerospace.

Why has demand for the A380 fallen?

The spacious jet, which had its first commercial flight in 2007 with Singapore Airlines, was popular with passengers but it was complicated and expensive to build, in part thanks to the way production was spread across various locations.

But ultimately demand for the A380 from airlines dried up as the industry shifted away from larger planes in favour of smaller, wide-body jets.

When Airbus was conceiving the A380, Boeing was also considering plans for a superjumbo. But the US company decided to scrap the idea in favour of its smaller, efficient - and more successful - 787 Dreamliner.

"The very clear trend in the market is to operate long-haul aircraft with two engines [such as] Boeing's 787 and 777, and Airbus's A330 and A350," said Greg Waldron, Asia managing editor of Flight Global.

Airbus had been working on a revamped A380 to make it more efficient, but needed sufficient launch orders to make the huge investment viable.

Despite Airbus' website describing the Airbus as the "future of long-distance travel" the last aircraft will be delivered in 2021.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47231504
 
I really loved this plane but sad that sales not as big as they expected.
 
this was really a plane made for middle east airlines where arabs can show off there cash, now there bored off it, maybe airbus needs to make it a triple decker and they'll get there buyers back.

quite a branding lesson for most businesses, just make another bigger then before and youll get arab buyers till they get bored of it and need something bigger.
 
This is such a shame - it's first flight was only 14 years ago (first commercial flight less than 12 years ago).

What an awesome piece of engineering it is:

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Smart decision. The A350 is the best wide body jet around and Emirates are quite frankly too late jumping aboard.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Bad day for the A380 as <a href="https://twitter.com/emirates?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@emirates</a> is wishing to cancel last 5 orders <a href="https://t.co/UydYo9nrYZ">https://t.co/UydYo9nrYZ</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/airfrance?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@airfrance</a> confirms to retire its entire fleet <a href="https://t.co/cVpVejbwwB">https://t.co/cVpVejbwwB</a></p>— AIRLIVE (@airlivenet) <a href="https://twitter.com/airlivenet/status/1263195287532695552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 20, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Bad day for the A380 as <a href="https://twitter.com/emirates?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@emirates</a> is wishing to cancel last 5 orders <a href="https://t.co/UydYo9nrYZ">https://t.co/UydYo9nrYZ</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/airfrance?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@airfrance</a> confirms to retire its entire fleet <a href="https://t.co/cVpVejbwwB">https://t.co/cVpVejbwwB</a></p>— AIRLIVE (@airlivenet) <a href="https://twitter.com/airlivenet/status/1263195287532695552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 20, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Very sad news indeed. A380 is an engineering matserpiece and most comfortable aircraft I have flown. It handles turbulence the best due to its enormous size and if you manage to get front row seats (before wings), its almost sound proof. My last trip from London to Dubai in economy felt like I was just relaxing in my sofa and reached Dubai without any jet lag.
 
Very sad news indeed. A380 is an engineering matserpiece and most comfortable aircraft I have flown. It handles turbulence the best due to its enormous size and if you manage to get front row seats (before wings), its almost sound proof. My last trip from London to Dubai in economy felt like I was just relaxing in my sofa and reached Dubai without any jet lag.

Very much agree with this. Lovely plane and a beauty to watch (and fly in)
 
This plane might have been best with social distencing, due to the amount of space it provides.
 
Why was it called a superjumbo when the jumbo was a Boeing?
 
https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/airbus-shaves-20-year-demand-forecast-sees-faster-replacements-2021-11-13/

Airbus shaved its forecast for airplane demand by 0.5% compared with pre-pandemic projections on Saturday, offset by a brighter outlook for freighters as the world's largest jetmakers fight for inaugural sales of large new cargo planes.

Airbus issued new long-term demand forecasts on the eve of the Dubai Airshow, where a battered aviation industry is reeling from the loss of two years' growth to COVID-19, while striving to defend its environmental plans amid growing climate pressure.

Airbus said it expected a market total of 39,020 jetliner deliveries in the next 20 years, fractionally lower than the 39,213 it predicted two years ago in its last rolling forecast.

The estimate for small planes like the best-selling A320 was essentially flat at 29,690 units, but the outlook for big jets that traditionally dominate the region fell 3.1%, reflecting a drop in long-haul travel on top of a glut of such aircraft.

The view echoes that of Boeing which in September cut its 20-year delivery forecast by 1% compared to 2019. That tempered greater pessimism seen from Boeing as the crisis peaked in 2020.

Airbus issued slightly weaker forecasts for medium jets - a key battleground that includes its longest-range narrrow-body jet, the A321XLR. Its sales have been causing a headache for Boeing at the top end of its recently troubled 737 MAX range.

Airbus slashed its forecast for average annual growth in passenger traffic to 3.9% from 4.3% in pre-pandemic 2019.

"The fastest traffic growth will be in Asia with domestic China becoming the largest market," Airbus said, indicating a permanent shift after China briefly grabbed the top spot in domestic air traffic from the United States during COVID.

Airbus raised its 20-year delivery forecast for new freighters by 2.9% to 880 units. It is in talks to find a first buyer for a proposed A350 freighter with airlines including Singapore Airlines, industry sources said.

Boeing said earlier it is in advanced discussions with potential buyers for a new 777X freighter. Market sources have said main contenders include Qatar Airways and FedEx.

Airbus said a rising share of total airplane deliveries would be to replace jets already in the market rather than to facilitate the recently curbed growth plans of many airlines.

That emphasis reflects expectations that airlines will retire less efficient jets earlier following COVID-19, but also// aims to tackle a sensitive point for the industry as some environmental groups target what they see as over-expansion.

Faster retirements also worry suppliers and lessors who fear the average economic life of jets will fall, forcing them to miss out on service revenues or push up depreciation costs.

"As economies and air transport mature, we see demand increasingly driven by replacement rather than growth," Airbus Chief Commercial Officer Christian Scherer said in a statement.
 
I think it’s a shame. I was proud that the Europeans built the biggest passenger jet. Never got to ride in one.

I guess that the future is smaller hydrogen-engine aircraft now, with air travel at a premium and superfast international rail becoming the main way to travel.
 
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Concorde was the greatest piece of aviation engineering between Europeans (UK and France).

Sure. Also Tornado and Typhoon. Then RR make the engines for some Airbus jets, and Airbus UK build the wings.
 
A bit of a pointless aircraft with no future to start with. Airbus should have realised that irrespective of size or performance, four engined commercial jets had no future at all. Yet they went ahead with both the A340 and the A380 programs. The lack of ROI on these programs has effectively put Airbus out of the high-capacity long haul aviation market for good. Boeing has established an unshakeable lead with the Boeing 777 and 787 family, forcing Airbus to play catch up with the A350.
The A380 itself was a niche aircraft and Airbus did not expect to sell more than 200 frames or so. It was doomed from the start.
 
Five years ago I would have said that the future was twin jet 787 and A350 aircraft.

But we are stuck in a pandemic which is going to go on for years because rogue nations like the UK are relying entirely upon partially-effective vaccines and allowing the virus to circulate and mutate freely. The UK tolerates 40,000 cases per day and 1,000 deaths every week. (Before anyone uses the "but flu always kills people too" line, let me point out that flu kills less than 2,000 people each year in the entire UK - current Covid deaths in the UK equate to 1 year of flu deaths every 2 weeks).

So we have a problem. The reckless approach to the pandemic embodied in the "everyone is vaccinated so let's pretend it's gone away" approach means that this pandemic is not going to end for years.

I have 3 trips from Australia to the USA booked in the next 7 months. And each requires negative Covid tests prior to departure. But people visiting ultra-high infection nations like the UK and Singapore are highly likely to catch Covid while they are there.

And that gives the A380 a potential advantage that other aircraft don't have. It can allow seating to be configured to permit a degree of social distancing, even in Economy class. You could go something like:

Business class 42 seats 2-2-2
Premium Economy 63 seats 2-3-2
Economy 180 seats 3-3-3

Yes, that's only 300 seats on an A380. And yes, you'd have to charge a premium.

But at least you'd be much less likely to catch Covid en route to Singapore (where you get taken to a detention facility run by Raffles Medical if you test positive on arrival or 72 hours prior to your next departure!)
 
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The main reason behind the failure of the A380 was in fact its size. Many airports had to upgrade/build new jettis, extend runways, etc. Cheaper to have 2 777s than 1 A380. This is why the A380 didn’t fly to many of the popular destinations.

Similar for the Concorde, the sonic boom created by Concorde meant that Concorde could hit Mach 2 over water, and not land.

The 747 however demanded an upgrade of airports too, but it was in the 60s and 70s when aviation industry was booming so made sense.

I have a feeling the Boeing 747-8 will make a come back.
 
A380 was the RR of flying in comfort but a commercial catastrophe, it doesn’t seem like a thorough market review was completed prior to its development plan. Long haul and wide body will take longer to recover and manufacturers typically sell more in the narrow body market. Due to the pandemic and lack of success with A380, Airbus wont jump in the shower so easily as far as the long haul sector is confirmed but are more interested in battery tech, light aircraft and have more of an inkling for the narrow body side of things, they are pro hydrogen unlike Boeing who in the near future are more likely to take a punt potentially on the long haul market with a geared engine architecture.
 
Not entierly true. Boeing is still manufacturing 747-8 for cargo.

They will only produce eight more frames to fulfill existing orders from Atlas Air and UPS. There have been no new orders for quite sometime, which means that the production line will be closed after this.
 
Written off as an oversized anachronism when Covid-19 upended aviation, the world’s largest passenger plane is enjoying an unlikely revival amid an overwhelming rebound in air travel.

Many airlines struggled to see a future for their enormous Airbus A380s when the pandemic grounded fleets in early 2020.

Qantas Airways parked its 12 double-deckers in the Californian desert, saying they would not be needed for at least three years, while Etihad Airways said it was not clear if its 10 superjumbos would ever fly again.

But this year’s sudden travel recovery has given the cavernous jets — often seating more than 500 people — a new lease of life.

They have become the long-range jumbo of choice for airlines from the UK to the Gulf and Australia as passenger volumes stretch aviation workforces that were depleted during the crisis.

By the end of 2022, monthly A380 flights will be at about 60 per cent of pre-Covid totals, Cirium data shows, defying the jet’s doubters.

British Airways will operate more A380 flights by the end of the year than it did before Covid-19.

As international travel returns, the A380’s carrying ability is validating — at least for now — the confidence shown in it by its top buyer, Emirates, and proving useful for airlines such as Qantas that did not permanently turn their backs on the giant plane.

The superjumbo — which heralded a luxurious new chapter for aviation with its on-board bars and whisper-quiet interior when it was introduced in 2005 — was already falling out of favour before the pandemic hit, as airlines turned to smaller, more fuel-efficient planes. Airbus killed off the programme in 2019.

Malaysia Airlines, Germany’s Deutsche Lufthansa and Air France-KLM are among airlines selling or phasing out their fleets.

https://www.thenationalnews.com/bus...jumbo-undergoes-a-revival-as-travel-rebounds/
 
It also becomes the first airline to operate scheduled passenger services utilising the A380, the world’s largest commercial aircraft in service, at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport.

After Mumbai, this is the second Indian destination in which the airline operates its A380 aircraft. These flights to Bengaluru will begin operating from October 30.

The daily A380 flights will operate as EK568/569 with an aircraft in a three-class configuration, offering seats in Economy Class, in addition to premium cabins, in Business Class and First Class.

Destinations served by the Emirates A380 aircraft currently stand at over 30 airports across six continents for August, with a total of over 130 destinations in the airline’s worldwide network.

https://www.msn.com/en-ae/travel/ne...sedgntp&cvid=ab9c947b78834ede89f19e61bc3b79d1
 
I love this plane

Took some pics whilst at Heathrow

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Airbus boss admits long delays in making aircraft​


Airbus, the global aircraft manufacturer, has admitted the company is falling behind on its orders.

Guillaume Faury, the company’s chief executive officer, said there are “bottlenecks” in the supply chain.

“We have more demand than the ability to supply,” he said.

Mr Faury was speaking at the Farnborough International Airshow, the biggest gathering of aviation professionals of the year. Airbus has major bases in the UK just outside of Bristol and in Broughton.

There are civilian airlines and military jet pilots. Technologists showing the latest kit and environmentalists trying to make flying greener.

The new British Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, turned up. He made a speech, and met the Airbus CEO.

For the UK government, aviation is an important industry.

Every Airbus plane flies on wings designed by 3,000 engineers at Filton, near Bristol. The centre also designs and tests landing gear and fuel systems, and manufactures some wing components.

The wings are then completed at Broughton, Flintshire, where another 6,000 people work. Thousands more work for small firms in the supply chain.

Behind the scenes, the Airbus sales team has been busy, signing orders for 139 new aircraft.

Virgin Atlantic bought seven new widebody A330 aircraft, with a list price of around $800m (£620m).

Another big order came from Japan Airlines for 20 long haul A350-900 jets, and 11 single aisle A321neo planes, worth just over $3bn (£2.3bn).

To any normal industry, these would be huge numbers.

But aviation is a one-off. The market is dominated by Airbus and Boeing, who sell the vast majority of big passenger jets the world over.

And they like doing it in style at the big airshows.

The Airbus deal with Virgin was actually signed on board a brand new A330 jet, painted in Virgin colours and named “Ruby Rebel”, in a nod to Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson.

Yet this has actually been a fairly quiet year for deals at Farnborough.

In 2018, the last show before the pandemic grounded the world’s airlines, Airbus racked up a total of 431 firm orders and commitments. This year, that figure is just 139.

Why? Because at the moment selling planes looks a lot easier than making them.

Airbus boss Guillaume Faury was candid that his suppliers are often late delivering vital components.

He said: “We have thousands of suppliers, and when you have just a couple of them that are late on the ramp-up, that’s slowing down everybody.”

The company now has a backlog of 8,585 jets that have been ordered but not yet manufactured.

To give an idea of the scale of that queue, last year Airbus made and delivered 735 planes.

Order one of the sparkling new A321 fuel efficient jets for £90m, and you will have to wait until 2031 at least to fly it.

"We are focussing our efforts on those bottlenecks," said Mr Faury.

While the sales teams are in the spotlight this week, it is Airbus engineers and production managers facing the biggest challenges. They are trying to speed up manufacturing of these hugely complex aircraft, relying on hundreds of specialist suppliers who face their own problems.

"We are sending our own people," said Mr Faury.

"Trying to provide help, anticipate the situation. And we have increased our buffer stocks to react to a crisis in the supply chain."

On the last day of the show, some aviation executives showed their patience, allowing Airbus to end on a high.
Low-cost Saudi airline, ‘flynas’, signed a provisional deal to buy 90 new aircraft, worth around $12bn.
The man buying the planes, flynas CEO Bander Almohanna, explained that the 75 A320neo aircraft he had just ordered had “exceptional efficiency”, which is vital for a low cost airline.

The other 15 planes are the long haul A330neo, which the airline says will “support our growth plans and Saudi Arabia’s pilgrim program."

In Filton, just north of Bristol, around 4,000 people work for Airbus and its partner GKN, designing and making wings.

They will have cheered the news that Airbus finally won the annual tussle with their big rival Boeing, selling 21 more aircraft than the Americans.

But it also means that in four days at Farnborough, another 139 planes have been added to their 'to do' list.

 
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