A380 Jumbo Scrapped

[Rainsberger]

Hello Guy

Airbus has blamed weak sales for its decision to scrap production of the A380 superjumbo - the world's largest airliner.

The European aerospace giant confirmed on Thursday it would deliver the final aircraft, with its two decks of cabins and room for 544 passengers, in 2021.

Following months of speculation over the plane's future, Airbus said it had taken the decision after Emirates scaled back an order for A380s - choosing instead to focus on smaller planes.

Airbus chief executive Tom Enders said: "As a result of this decision we have no substantial A380 backlog and hence no basis to sustain production, despite all our sales efforts with other airlines in recent years.

"This leads to the end of A380 deliveries in 2021. The consequences of this decision are largely embedded in our 2018 full-year results."

They showed losses of £788m from the A380 programme, with the hugely delayed A400M military transporter plane also putting a dent in profits.

Nevertheless, Airbus said it made £2.7bn in overall net profits - a jump of 29% on the previous year.

The company said it planned talks with unions over the potential for harm to up to 3,500 jobs connected to the superjumbo, which is assembled in France.

 

The Unite union said it was seeking assurances over any impact on the UK workforce.

Airbus makes wings for the A380 in the UK - employing 6,000 staff at Broughton and 3,000 at Filton.

The firm said an increase in production of its A320 model would offer "a significant number of internal mobility opportunities" - but Brexit could form part of the decision-making process.

Mr Enders warned last month it could move operations abroad in the event of hard Brexit "madness".

The company later admitted to Sky News that Downing Street had asked it to make clear the impact of a no-deal scenario.

The A380 was first launched 14 years ago as a challenger to fierce rival Boeing's 747 jumbo jet but its popularity has struggled to take off.

Emirates said it was "disappointed" to give up its order - citing new plane and engine technology - leaving just 14 superjumbos in the production pipeline for the Middle East carrier as it opted to pick up a total of 70 of the smaller A350 and A330neo models instead.

The airline said it planned to keep flying the A380 well into the 2030s and Airbus confirmed the planes would continue to be supported.

Just one other airline has A380s on order, with Japan's ANA due to have three delivered.

Yet another sad day.

[Swineman]

a real shame as it's a wonderful aircraft to fly in, but not economic to operate I'm afraid.  I will miss it.

[chippysam]

  Some of my better flights had the 380s good plane for passengers.

[SirL]

It's all about whether the future of aviation is from one big hub to another, or between secondary airports.

[ZRHuser]

Great plane and it will still fly for many years, last one will be delivered around 2021, so no reason to start to sob.

[Shaksey]

Increased capacity being completed or soon to be at Emirates Dubai hub means they can operate more flights hence not needing the extra pax capacity per flight which was/is the reason they ordered so many A380's. 

[themehta]

RIP A380

[slippery lips]

Don't worry, this aircraft will still be flying long after you've given up punting.

 

[fishy62]

I only fly business A 380 when I have to.... what a bugger...

[Luv2Phuket]

I have enjoyed flying it (in biz class), and it is quite a plane.

That said, airlines seem to be flocking to ULR planes that are far more fuel efficient.


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[bgtp]

Great plane to to fly in and they'll be around for a while, probably for as long as I'm still making trips to Thailand. What's ironic is Boeing 747's production run could outlast A380's.

[LeoTex]

1 hour ago, slippery lips said:

Don't worry, this aircraft will still be flying long after you've given up punting.

That's what I thought the Boeing 747. Now that Delta has replaced theirs with the A350, not that many 747's still left out there. I know Korean Air still has a few.

I agree that the A380 is great aircraft, I have flow twice on Thai Air from Tokyo to Bangkok and twice on Korean Air from Seoul to Bangkok.

Up stairs or down, both are great. My only 'con', is that the plane hold too many passengers, especially when they all are trying to get off at the same time and head to immigration.

LeoTex

[Luv2Phuket]

2 hours ago, LeoTex said:

That's what I thought the Boeing 747. Now that Delta has replaced theirs with the A350, not that many 747's still left out there. I know Korean Air still has a few.

I agree that the A380 is great aircraft, I have flow twice on Thai Air from Tokyo to Bangkok and twice on Korean Air from Seoul to Bangkok.

Up stairs or down, both are great. My only 'con', is that the plane hold too many passengers, especially when they all are trying to get off at the same time and head to immigration.

LeoTex

Thai still uses 747s - I just flew it from Tokyo.

Just looked it up - 12 airlines still use 747s - https://liveandletsfly.boardingarea.com/2018/05/23/747-commercial-operators/

[Shaksey]

Korean and Lufthansa have new 747-8's, i'd like to have a flight on one of them.

[LeoTex]

1 hour ago, Luv2Phuket said:

Thai still uses 747s - I just flew it from Tokyo.

Just looked it up - 12 airlines still use 747s - https://liveandletsfly.boardingarea.com/2018/05/23/747-commercial-operators/

 

46 minutes ago, Shaksey said:

Korean and Lufthansa have new 747-8's, i'd like to have a flight on one of them.

I guess I was thinking about the 3 major US carriers.

I don't think American Airlines every had any, but both United and Delta don't fly the 747's any longer.

And thinking back last year, 2 of my trips from Seoul to Bangkok on Korean were on a 747-8 plane. Looks like they still operate 23 of the 747's, which 17 are the 800 series

LeoTex

[bgtp]

30 minutes ago, LeoTex said:

I guess I was thinking about the 3 major US carriers.

I don't think American Airlines every had any, but both United and Delta don't fly the 747's any longer.

And thinking back last year, 2 of my trips from Seoul to Bangkok on Korean were on a 747-8 plane. Looks like they still operate 23 of the 747's, which 17 are the 800 series

LeoTex

American did have 747's, mostly the 747-123 version. I flew on one in the mid-80's. The upstairs was a lounge area for first class passengers. Here's a nice picture of an American 747-123 that was acquired by NASA (link). Still has the AA red-white-blue stripe down the fuselage.

[LeoTex]

1 minute ago, bgtp said:

American did have 747's, mostly the 747-123 version. I flew on one in the mid-80's. The upstairs was a lounge area for first class passengers. Here's a nice picture of an American 747-123 that was sold to NASA (link). Still has the AA red-white-blue strip down the fuselage.

Yes, some of 747's did have lounges on the top deck. Some of older movies using them, I think even had a piano bar up there.

I surprised that the airlines didn't start out cramming more seat up there to increase revenue like they do now.

LeoTex

[PR1977]

Pity, great aircraft to fly on.

Interesting that no US airline ever ordered it, wonder how much of a factor that was in the decision.

[crossfield]

Pity, great aircraft to fly on.
Interesting that no US airline ever ordered it, wonder how much of a factor that was in the decision.

Boeing factor?

[PR1977]

1 minute ago, crossfield said:

Boeing factor?

Possibly, but hasn't stopped Airbus shifting the rest of its models in the US

[Whalley]

8 hours ago, SirL said:

It's all about whether the future of aviation is from one big hub to another, or between secondary airports.

 

Boeing invested heavily in the Dreamliner, on the concept of a smaller, ultra efficient long haul aircraft with expected demand to be point to point travel rather than large aircraft connecting passengers through hubs.

A clear winner with that concept.  

But a market still exists for Boeing's newest 747.

[Little Evil]

Flew Korean A380 in 2017. It was a super smooth flight. Too bad those planes are being phased out. No more sky bars after they wrap up their last service runs. 

[Little Evil]

2 minutes ago, Whalley said:

 

Boeing invested heavily in the Dreamliner, on the concept of a smaller, ultra efficient long haul aircraft with expected demand to be point to point travel rather than large aircraft connecting passengers through hubs.

A clear winner with that concept.  

But a market still exists for Boeing's newest 747.

Thing is, Airbus also went that route too with the A350 and retrofits of older planes with longer ranges. They kind of cannibalized their own A380 program by legitimizing the concept. 

[LeoTex]

1 hour ago, Little Evil said:

Thing is, Airbus also went that route too with the A350 and retrofits of older planes with longer ranges. They kind of cannibalized their own A380 program by legitimizing the concept. 

That's what Delta did, scraped their Boeing 747 for the A350 which holds more passengers that the 747's, and about 200 less passengers than the A380

I also think that I read the A350 is more economical to fly than the 747's

LeoTex

[Mr Wombat]

I bet the airports that geared up for an influx of A380 will be pissed off. I know my local airport (Brisbane) built a stand alone A380 double decker air bridge system. From what I have seen there is only 1 A380 per day into Brisbane, and it now wont get any more.