A380 Production Sadness

[RooFlyer]

Qantas A380 order cancellation further clouds aircraft’s future

Probably paywalled:

Qantas’ formal cancellation of its order for another eight Airbus A380s will only stoke speculation that the European manufacturer should take the superjumbo out of production altogether.

On Thursday Qantas formalised its earlier decision not to take up an order for another eight A380 aircraft, announcing that contract has now been cancelled.

The Flying Kangaroo made the call several years ago to bolster its fleet with Boeing 787-9s instead of more A380s, citing the Dreamliners’ fuel efficiency and longer range capabilities.

In a statement, a Qantas spokesman confirmed the decision not to take eight additional A380s ordered in 2006, had been formalised with Airbus.

“These aircraft have not been part of the airline’s fleet and network plans for some time,” said the statement.

“Qantas remains committed to a major upgrade of its existing A380s, which begins in mid-2019 and will see us operate the aircraft well into the future.”

Qantas has 12 A380s in its fleet and eight Dreamliners, with another six 787-9s to be delivered starting later this year.

The formal cancellation of the A380 order comes as Airbus continues talks with its biggest customer of the super jumbos, Emirates, on the future of its contract.

Emirates has 109 A380s in its fleet, and another 53 pending delivery but is understood to be considering switching some of those on order to smaller A350s.

With other orders for A380s dwindling in recent years due to their considerable size and cost, there has been speculation Airbus will stop manufacturing the aircraft altogether.

AusBT article from a few days years (thanks, sxc) ago Qantas CEO: no plans to buy more Airbus A380s

 

[Flying Fox]

With the problems that Airbus are having with the current yet to be finalised EK order of 20 units and 16 options plus the QF cancellation, Airbus must be seriously looking at setting a date to close the A380 production line.

 

[odysseus]

May not be a surprise, but doesn't make it a good move.

 

[straitman]

May not be a surprise, but doesn't make it a good move.

Can you clarify what you mean ?

It will all be about economics.

 

[woodborer]

Surprised they didn't turn some of the costs involved in the cancellation into an order for A350XLR or A320/1s......


Or maybe they have and it just isn't announced yet.

Haven't they already got a metric shipload of A320s on order?

My guess is it points toward project sunrise leaning toward a Boeing answer,

 

[sxc]

Qantas A380 order cancellation further clouds aircraft’s future

Probably paywalled:



AusBT article from a few days ago Qantas CEO: no plans to buy more Airbus A380s

You mean a few years ago...

 

[Himeno]

Haven't they already got a metric shipload of A320s on order?

They have around 100 A320 family aircraft on order. Many of these are NEOs. Officially, they are for the Jetstar group.

I had been expecting the outstanding orders to be converted to another Airbus model rather then outright cancelled.
I assume the remaining 4 options are also removed?

 

[RooFlyer]

You mean a few years ago...

Ooops

 

[jb747]

Haven't they already got a metric shipload of A320s on order?

My guess is it points toward project sunrise leaning toward a Boeing answer,

Those 320s are a totally separate item. My bet would be that the only way that AB would let them get away with this cancellation is if they take another s’load for QF domestic, or, more likely the A350 for mainline international.

A rumour had it that AB was going to refuse all dealings with QF or any subsidiary, unless they sorted out the 380 deal. I expect that Boeing would then charge the maximum possible....

It is interesting that whilst JQ has the proverbial load on order, there is nothing for mainline other than a couple of 787s, that GD actually ordered. Joyce has not actually ordered anything for mainline in his entire tenure. This will come back to haunt his successor.

 

[moa999]

A rumour had it that AB was going to refuse all dealings with QF or any subsidiary, unless they sorted out the 380 deal. I expect that Boeing would then charge the maximum possible....

Joyce has not actually ordered anything for mainline in his entire tenure. This will come back to haunt his successor.

Given the effort Airbus is seemingly putting into Project Sunrise I somehow doubt this.

Joyce converted 787 options to orders, and I think bought some 717s.
And I suspect will order for Sunrise before he leaves.

Reality is he had a pretty full widebody order book given Dixon had signed onto 12 A380s, 13 A330s, 6 747-400ERs and the 45 787s relatively late in his tenure, and the big 737 order book that they took off AA following 9/11 that I think was only half delivered.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Add on the competitive and financial pressures early (and the industrial ones, though some will believe those to have been manufactured - I have no opinion) and I don't think he can be blamed necessarily for being cautious.

They have a few options but like the other major Australian airline they are facing a lot of pressures on regional narrow bodies too, although a slightly different challenge than VA has.

 

[Himeno]

Joyce converted 787 options to orders, and I think bought some 717s.
And I suspect will order for Sunrise before he leaves.

Joyce also cancelled close to 60 787 orders.

Boeing only built 156 717s. They've been out of production for almost 13 years. There are 148 in service with 4 airlines. All the QantasLink 717s are second hand.

 

[woodborer]

It is interesting that whilst JQ has the proverbial load on order, there is nothing for mainline other than a couple of 787s, that GD actually ordered. Joyce has not actually ordered anything for mainline in his entire tenure. This will come back to haunt his successor.

Indeed, some of the domestic fleet is getting a bit long in the tooth.

 

[Berlin]

I just hope that “Project Sunrise” goes to the A350, lovely airplane and I always hatred the 777 from a passenger perspective though I know the bean counters love it (and hate the A380 which by far my favourite aircraft ever). Time will tell, but the A350 already flies while the 777-X is still ages away.

 

[pauly7]

Those 320s are a totally separate item. My bet would be that the only way that AB would let them get away with this cancellation is if they take another s’load for QF domestic, or, more likely the A350 for mainline international.

This is certainly the chatter that I’ve heard coming from a few QF people (speculating - unsubstantiated), it makes sense on paper that’s for sure, this could well be a prelude to another AB / QF announcement at some point.

 

[Daver6]

Somewhat ironical with the demise of the A380 is all the money airports spent on infrastructure upgrades to handle the A380s. Those three walkway boarding gates will be a waste. Also, didn't some airports need to spend money on taxiways for the A380 being heavier?

 

[travelislife]

Somewhat ironical with the demise of the A380 is all the money airports spent on infrastructure upgrades to handle the A380s. Those three walkway boarding gates will be a waste. Also, didn't some airports need to spend money on taxiways for the A380 being heavier?

Even if they don't build any more new ones it will be flying for a long time yet.

 

[jb747]

Even if they don't build any more new ones it will be flying for a long time yet.

Perhaps, but it won’t hang around like the 747 has, nor will it ever have an extensive tier of second line operators. They’ll be breaking them up sooner, rather than later.

 

[ovtraveller]

I would like to think that there is hope for the big one yet. With the B747 being phased out as a passenger transport, its cargo sibling numbers continue to grow not withstanding their less than efficient jets. Without its windows, the A380’s twin decks must be attractive to companies aiming to ferry perishables around the world. Regrettably, the American aviation industry never took to the A380 which meant that few hubs were reengineered to accept the plane and fewer American travellers experienced the delight of its design.

 

[codash1099]

Surely slot limitations at a growing number of airports must lead to a trend to bigger aircraft. Maybe the A380 is above the optimum size even considering this.