Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Three days after warning the A380 might not have a future, Airbus says it will likely keep making the plane into the 2030s.
The turnaround came after Dubai-based Emirates placed an order for 20 more of the behemoths, with options for another 16. The carrier already has 101 A380s in its fleet and had already ordered another 41. The airline therefore has plans to acquire 178 of the planes, but won't ever operate that many as some of the newly-ordered machines will replace older models.
Airbus said the deal will "will provide stability to the A380 production line" and let it keep making the superjumbo for years. Which is great news for the thousands of people around the world who make the plane or parts of it, and for Airbus itself.
[...] The company still hopes that carriers other than Emirates will pick up the plane, which it positions as ideal for routes to popular destinations where landing slots are at a premium. Airbus expects more cities will acquire that status as airline traffic grows.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 20 2018, @06:08AM
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(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 20 2018, @06:17AM (4 children)
A380 is dead plane flying. Airlines are buying 777/787 for transoceanic flights instead - more fuel efficient, and don't have to pack so many into a single flight - probably cheaper to fly two 787s than a single a380. The only reason for the Emirates order is to keep the production line going for a few more years so its existing fleet of A380 will be maintained and retain a degree of market value.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 20 2018, @06:21AM (2 children)
I should note, passengers love A380. Know why? It's a spacious beast that is rarely ever full - the same reason why airlines don't like it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 20 2018, @07:06AM
I flew on one NYC FRA SIN and it was full but still very comfortable and smooth.
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Saturday January 20 2018, @10:40AM
Economy passengers like whatever the cheapest flight is. If there's a 787 flying at 9AM for $500 and an A380 flying at 5AM for $450, guess which will be chosen
Business passengers have a larger variety of requirements. A bed is clearly a requirement, but everyone worth mentioning has those, but the other important aspects are things like schedules and soft services like wifi.
London to New York on BA/AA can't be beaten on schedule - you turn up, and there's a plane within the next hour. However they can't put 16 A380s on that route, so they want smaller planes.
When it comes to direct planes the 787 may be small and efficient enough let me fly direct from Manchester to Nairobi (except it doesn't), but even if it did it's unlikely to be a daily schedule. I flew BA (terrible airline -- dropped massively in quality in the last 5 years) because of the schedule - it was the quickest plane that let me leave home after 2300 on the Tuesday. The cabin was half empty. Change in London. Other options included Emirates and Qatar which had even more options (2 or 3 flights a day), but didn't happen to fit the right timings for me - one of the flights was full too.
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Saturday January 20 2018, @12:28PM
The Airbus factory in Broughton [airbus.com] was hanging on by a wing and a prayer...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 20 2018, @06:20AM
I flew in one once and it was pretty nice. They had a double decker arrangement and each segment of the plane had its own boarding gate. Can't speak about the geopolitics etc. but it was a sweet ride.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by realDonaldTrump on Saturday January 20 2018, @07:05AM
This deal is great news for American workers, because United Technologies and General Electric make big, big parts that go into EVERY A380!
Airbus has a beautiful factory in Mobile. Where they build the A320 (very popular). And the Bombardier CSeries. American workers love to build planes! Airbus makes beautiful helicopters, and our American military needs a lot of helicopters. But Airbus has to play ball. They need to stop selling to Iran, it's a terrorist country. And they need to follow ITAR, they made some sales that look VERY CROOKED. If they clean up their act, we can make some fabulous deals, believe me.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by MostCynical on Saturday January 20 2018, @07:26AM
Airbus say they need to kill the plane if Emirates (or some mystical "other" company) don't order more planes.
How much of a discount did Emirates get?
How much of this was just pushing them to commit to 'enough' planes in the order?
Companies don't like changing brands- spare parts, maintainence training, and being able to switch out components mean they prefer one body, one engine, across as much of the fleet as possible. Emirates would save alot, just sticking with the the A380, instead of switching to another manufacturer.
Also, Emirates has (and will continue to have) a say on some design/layout/"customization" and certification elements, that suit them, as the major buyer.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Lester on Saturday January 20 2018, @11:09AM
I've read several comments about how comfortable, spacious etc etc it is. Airbus is not comfortable or spacious neither Boening 777/787 are. Plane comfort depends on how the airline company that bought it customized it. Planes are like the empty building of a restaurant, in the same building you can install a fast food restaurant with 100 tables or a three michelin stars restaurant with 30 tables.
What is important in a plane is initial investment, fuel by Kg/Km, reliability, maintenance cost etc.
Usually, the bigger plane is, the less costly by Kg/Km. On the other hand, the bigger plane is, the price of a new plane is higher and the less airports it can land on, the more difficult to sell out all the seats for a flight. The more modern the plane is, the last security technologies it has, and testing tools are more modern and automatic. On the other hand, the more modern the plane is, the less planes are in the market, so it is more difficult to find qualified staff, and more expensive the replacement parts are, and more flaws that are yet to be detected (not deadly flaws, but costly flaws).
Boening 787 competes against A330, not against A380. A380 can carry double of passengers and cost double, and maintenance ...nobody knows yet. In the long term A380 looks good idea, but yet to be proved, in the short term it's a really big investment, so it's is a big bet. Many companies, particularly small companies, stick on B-787, it si not such big initial investment, and contrary to A380 that it's new plane almost from scratch, B787 is an evolution so is more tested and staff need less training . But surprisingly enough some small Indian companies have bought A380. I suppose that when you are the small, you must rise the bet.
IMHO A380 has future, but not a brilliant future, just future. Let's wait and see.