Airbus announces fourth A380 program delay; scales back 2008-10 deliveries

Airbus yesterday announced the fourth delay to the A380 program, saying that transitioning from "low rate. . .Wave 1" production to "the full serial design and manufacturing process called Wave 2" will take longer than anticipated.

"This is unfortunately not the first delay (ATWOnline, Oct. 4, 2006) and as CEO of Airbus I have to say I regret this very much," CEO Tom Enders told reporters yesterday. The manufacturer said the "steep ramp-up" envisioned for later this year will take more "time and resources," forcing it to lower 2008 deliveries from 13 to 12, 2009 deliveries from 25 to 21 and 2010 deliveries from 42 to as few as 30.

Airbus has delivered four A380s to Singapore Airlines, with the first arriving 18 months late in November 2007, and said it has 17 additional of the type in "various stages of production, mainly in the wiring installation and system testing phases." It said it is in discussion with its customers regarding a new delivery schedule and is developing "a more precise evaluation of the implications. . .for 2010 deliveries and beyond." It has not determined the financial impact of the latest delay.

SIA said it still expects to receive its fifth A380 in July and Emirates, which is the largest customer with 47 on order, said it expects to receive its first in the third quarter. President Tim Clark recently said another A380 delay "will do us serious damage" (ATWOnline, May 7, 2006). Qantas said it expects to receive its first in August. Those carriers and other customers said they are waiting on further details from Airbus regarding the revised delivery schedule for aircraft beyond the next few.

"We are not talking about a catastrophic scenario," Enders insisted, saying the A380 program is in much better shape than when Airbus announced its second and third delays in 2006. "At the moment, we are confident of being clearly able to produce and deliver more than 30 aircraft, or let's say between 30 and 40 aircraft, in 2010," he said.

Added COO Fabrice Bregier: "We are not in the crisis situation of 18 months ago. This is an adjustment in the production pace. . .We are going to move into this second phase [of production] but with a delay of two to three months."