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Airbus stops production of A380


Jamesc
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My cuz who does aircraft maintenance told us the A380 was build without maintenance in mind, alot of the wiring and stuff are in really inaccessible areas and the staff has a tough time trying to get to the areas needing replacement.

 

In a sense might not be a bad thing to get a new one so long as the old one can be recycled well. 

 

 

Wah sei....they renew COE while we scrap ours. How apt

 

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During our NZ trip in Dec, we flew Emirates. Chose connecting flight to save some $$.

 

SG-Sydney: small plane. I think was a 737. Super uncomfortable, maybe cos cramped, plus split us up as it was a rearranged flight, and had a bitch sitting besides me.

 

Sydney-Christchurch: A380. Very comfortable and nice, esp/maybe cos we came out from that lousy small plane (with bad company).

 

Talking of A380, i remember my father took one in 2008, en-route to the Beijing Olympics. He boarded the plane, waited a while, and all passengers were told to disembark because of aircon problem.

Subsequently changed to another A380, and the plane took off few hours later than scheduled, but was just before can claim travel insurance for flight delays... [smash]

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My cuz who does aircraft maintenance told us the A380 was build without maintenance in mind, alot of the wiring and stuff are in really inaccessible areas and the staff has a tough time trying to get to the areas needing replacement.

 

In a sense might not be a bad thing to get a new one so long as the old one can be recycled well.

Sad day....

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thought SG-SDY is 777?

 

A380 always feel more comfortable

 

When first launched SQ Business seat also one of the best but others have caught up

 

During our NZ trip in Dec, we flew Emirates. Chose connecting flight to save some $$.

 

SG-Sydney: small plane. I think was a 737. Super uncomfortable, maybe cos cramped, plus split us up as it was a rearranged flight, and had a bitch sitting besides me.

 

Sydney-Christchurch: A380. Very comfortable and nice, esp/maybe cos we came out from that lousy small plane (with bad company).

 

Talking of A380, i remember my father took one in 2008, en-route to the Beijing Olympics. He boarded the plane, waited a while, and all passengers were told to disembark because of aircon problem.

Subsequently changed to another A380, and the plane took off few hours later than scheduled, but was just before can claim travel insurance for flight delays... [smash]

 

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thought SG-SDY is 777?

 

A380 always feel more comfortable

 

When first launched SQ Business seat also one of the best but others have caught up

 

ok, maybe SG-SDY is not the 737. Think the 737 might be Christchurch-Melbourne. Getting confused... [sweatdrop]

 

A380 is more spacious cos the plane is bigger so gives the feeling there's more free airspace. Didn't measure, but the economy seats also feel bit bit wider.

 

i no try biz class before leh, except one time went reservist to Aust, then sat at biz class. but no service leh...

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Airbus scraps A380 superjumbo jet as sales slump

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47231504

 

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?

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.

_105646164_a380production-nc.png

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.

_105646166_a380production2-nc.png

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.

Where did Airbus go wrong?

Analysis: By Dominic O'Connell, Today programme business presenter

When Airbus's A380 first took off it was hailed as a technological marvel that would meet airlines' needs for a new large aircraft to connect the world's crowded airport hubs - London, New York, Dubai, Tokyo. Airbus said the market for the giant planes would be 1,500.

After today's decision to end production, it will have made just over 250.

In hindsight, airlines were already turning their back on very large aircraft when the A380 made its debut.

Advances in engine technology meant planes no longer needed four engines to fly long distances - and carriers were able to use a new generation of light, fuel-efficient, twin-engined aircraft to link secondary cities, bypassing the crowded hubs altogether.

Even though Airbus was aware of the threat posed by these new types of plane, they pressed ahead.

There was a bigger game afoot - Airbus needed to negate Boeing's 747, believing that the profits the American company made on 747 sales were helping it cross-subsidise other, smaller planes. The A380 succeeded in that - the last passenger 747 was built two years ago - but Boeing will have a kind of last laugh.

Freighter versions of the 747 will be built past 2021, meaning the venerable jumbo jet will outlive the plane sent to kill it.

 

Why did the Airbus A380 fail?

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47225789

 

When Singapore Airlines took the A380 superjumbo for its first commercial flight in 2007, there was widespread applause that the future of air travel had arrived.

But the Airbus programme, long-delayed and over-budget, never really shook off predictions that it would be a white elephant of the skies.

So why did the world's largest passenger aircraft, described as a "hotel in the sky", fail after just 12 years of production?

The A380, whose wings are made at Airbus UK, was a bold challenger to US rival Boeing's dominance of the large aircraft market.

While Airbus was taking a multi-billion-dollar bet that airlines would want big aircraft in the future, Boeing was developing its smaller, nimbler (and seemingly more successful) 787 Dreamliner.

Carrying about 550 passengers - but with capacity for more - over a range of 8,000 nautical miles, the A380 was pitched at the fast-growing Asia and Middle East markets, where airlines were keen to fly more people per flight.

_105647735_a380orddel-nc.png

The A380 also boasted more than 500 sq m of usable floor space, enabling carriers to offer plush first-class suites, as well as bars, beauty salons and duty-free shops.

But after an initial surge of orders, especially from Dubai-based Emirates, demand dried up and the programme has never turned a profit.

The whole programme is thought to have cost $25bn (£19.4bn) and has been dogged by controversies over subsidies from the French and German governments.

Last year, the World Trade Organisation ruled that the EU failed to comply with requests to end state aid to the planemaker, ramping up trade tensions between the bloc and the US.

As of January, Airbus had received 313 firm orders for the passenger version of the plane, of which 234 had been delivered.

Its target was to sell 700 in total.

Ironically, the double-decker planes are popular with passengers, but airlines have come to view them as inefficient.

Some argue that the A380 is too large, making it unprofitable when too many seats go unfilled. And Willie Walsh, boss of British Airways-owner IAG, just last week suggested that the plane - while good - was too pricey.

With fuel prices rising and campaigners questioning the environmental impact of aircraft, some airlines chose to opt for smaller, but more efficient, planes produced by both Boeing and Airbus.

Some airlines preferred to wait for more details about Boeing's new family of 777s - deliveries of which start in 2020 - which has fewer seats but the same range, more payload, and two fewer engines.

_105647734_a380-nc.png

Since 2005, a total of 57 firm orders for the A380 have been cancelled by airlines including Emirates, Virgin Atlantic and Lufthansa. A cargo version of the plane also never took off because of a lack of interest.

Not surprisingly, speculation that the aircraft could be scrapped has swirled for years, although Airbus could have continued to produce the A380 in limited numbers, experts say.

However, a decision by its biggest customer, Emirates, to downgrade an order appears to have forced Airbus's hand.

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Wah. Will this trend kill changi airport since they are a transshipment airport?

 

Everyone flies direct then who wants to stop and waste time in changi?

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Wife, daughter and I recently took SQ A350 to Moscow (5 day stopover) and on to Stockholm. Came home from London SQ A380. To be fair, the A350 was quite comfortable too.

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Wife, daughter and I recently took SQ A350 to Moscow (5 day stopover) and on to Stockholm. Came home from London SQ A380. To be fair, the A350 was quite comfortable too.

 

The A350 is a marvel of........marketing. So much hype. So much praises.

 

Sit n a A380 and A350, the feel is quite noticeable. It's like sitting inside a 7-series vs a 3-series.

 

I've sat in all 3-classes of the A350; business, premium economy and economy. Gets the job done but hardly much excitement, not as quiet or stable as the A380 except for the stylo-mylo wing tips.

 

Time to fly Emirates more to support the big bird.

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Airbus pulls the plug on the A-380, world's biggest jet

 

 

At SIA, the A-380s will keep its status. "There will be no change to our A-380 operations and the aircraft remains an important part of our fleet," its spokesman said.

 

SIA flies the giant jet to 13 cities; London, Zurich, Frankfurt, New York, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Osaka, New Delhi, Mumbai, Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland.

 

https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/airbus-pulls-the-plug-on-the-a-380-worlds-biggest-jet

 

mai stress ... SQ still got 19 planes ...  [:p]

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