News Desk

Commercial

Airbus Reviews A380 Deliveries

Speculation is Mounting That There Could Be Delays in the Delivery of A380s After Airbus Said That It Was Reviewing Its Delivery Program. Airbus Ceo Tom Enders Announced That the Manufacturer Was “currently Conducting a Major Review” of the A380 Program, but Also Said That It Was “standard Practice” at This Stage of the A380’s Development. Enders Made the Announcement at the Opening of a New Parts and Logistics Facility at Dubai International Airport on April 29. The Review is Believed to Be Focused on the Ability of Its Supply Chain to Handle the Increase in Production Over the Next Few Years. Airbus Plans to Deliver 13 A380s This Year, 25 in 2009 and 45 in 2010. “This is a Very Steep Ramp-up and This is Something One Always Needs to Be Concerned About,” Enders Told Reporters. Subsequently, on May 4 a German Magazine Report Cited Insiders at Airbus Who Claimed That the Airframer Had Written to Airline Customers Warning Them of Further Delays. According to the Report in ‘wirtschaftswoche’, Airbus Would “nearly” Manage to Deliver the 13 A380s It Has Scheduled for This Year but Would Certainly Not Be Able to Deliver the 25 Aircraft in 2009. Meanwhile, Emirates Has Revealed That Airbus Paid It Us$110 Million (a$118m) in Compensation for the Delays to Its A380s. Emirates Has 58 A380s on Order and Plans to Take Delivery of Four This Year.

Boeing to Wait on A350 Before Updating 777

Boeing Ceo Jim Mcnerney Has Confirmed That the Manufacturer is Looking at an Updated 777, but Will Only Move Forward After the A350 Xwb’s Performance is Validated. Mcnerney Said in an Earnings Call That if the A350 is Able to Perform as Airbus Expects It to That It Would, “…put Some Pressure on Our Longer-range 777 Fleet and We Would Have to Answer the Question of What We Would Do About That.” However, He Stressed That the Company Would Wait Until the Real Performance of the Aircraft Was Validated Before Making Any Changes to the 777 Line.