Deliveries of the new Airbus A380 superjumbo will run around six months late, it was revealed in early June, leaving a number of customers publicly disaffected. Launch customer Singapore Airlines will now receive its first aircraft towards the end of 2006, rather than in the first half of the year, and Qantas, Air France and Emirates are also expecting late deliveries.
Airbus has indicated that the delays are due to the design, development and installation of the large and complex interiors — buyer-furnished equipment (BFE) produced by third-party companies under direct contract to the airlines — rather than to problems with the aircraft itself. Some airlines and their BFE suppliers failed to meet target dates for critical design reviews, Airbus executives say, disrupting the schedule for completing the first few A380s. “Should we have held their feet to the fire more? Yes, we should,” says one Airbus source. On the other hand, Qantas has specifically said that its own team met all their deadlines — but the disruption of the schedule seems to have affected Qantas’ aircraft in any event.
“It’s embarrassing, of course” says Airbus commercial director John Leahy of the delays in A380 deliveries. But on the other hand the depth of disappointment shown by the airlines underscores just how important they view the airplane in their future.
There is a little backhanded comfort, Leahy says, when airline CEOs tell him, “I was counting on this airplane to increase my market position, to build my market share, pack my bottom line, now look what you have done to my plan.” That is one reason they are seeking compensation for the delays; another is that that is the way the game is traditionally played between airlines and their suppliers.
At the recent IATA conference in Tokyo, Leahy was handed a business card by Chew Choon Seng, CEO of Singapore Airlines. Beneath his name and company was the slogan ‘The A380 — First to Fly 2006.’
“Mr. Chew told me everyone at Singapore Airlines has that on their business card. Singapore still will be the first to fly it, and it still will be in 2006, but in the second half instead of the first,” said Leahy. —John Morris
The delays and resulting compensation to customers will further increase costs for a project that has already overrun its budget by $1.8 billion — bringing the development bill to $13 billion. But Airbus continues to say that the basic aircraft is doing well. The A380 narrowly missed its first-flight target date — the first quarter of 2005 — taking to the air on April 27.
Today’s problems are minor compared with those that confronted the program in its early days — near-show-stopping challenges that Airbus is only beginning to discuss. In late 2000, Airbus committed to major changes — including an increase in engine bypass ratio — to meet London-Heathrow’s QC2 noise standard and clinch the sale to Singapore Airlines, without having the time for a complete analysis of the impact of the changes on the manufacturer’s empty weight (MEW). “We knew (the target MEW) was virtually impossible,” program evp Charles Champion remarked in May, “but the first bottom-up weight estimate in March 2001 was over by double-digits in tonnes.” The necessary design changes — including metal-matrix-composite wheels and other material changes — added some schedule and cost risk, says Champion.
The aircraft is now “a few per cent” over its design MEW, says Champion. Emirates managing director Tim Clark has said that the overrun is five tonnes, calling it “miraculous”. The aircraft is expected to meet performance guarantees, says Clark. “The only hit is on fuel and maintenance — we work the engines a little harder.” Airlines requiring ultimate payload and range performance can select a 569-tonne maximum take-off weight option. The first two A380 airframes do not incorporate all the weight-saving changes — A380 MSN 003, the first aircraft for Singapore Airlines, is the first compliant aircraft. Airbus will retain MSN 001 as a flight-test aircraft, and Etihad will take delivery of a refurbished MSN 002. —Bill Sweetman
