Airbus SAS, the world’s largest manufacturer of commercial aircraft, may fail to meet a target of delivering 18 A380 superjumbos this year, according to a survey of the plane’s customers.
Airbus, a unit of European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co, may hand over only 15 of the double-decker passenger planes this year, Bloomberg News found by polling the 15 carriers and one leasing firm that have committed to the aircraft.
Missing three A380 deliveries would mean almost $1 billion in lost revenue this year, at list prices. Production of the plane, which has 525 seats, or about 250 more than Boeing Co’s newest model, the 787 Dreamliner, has been running two years late because of wiring difficulties. EADS is also struggling with delays on the A400M military transport, and has taken 1.74 billion euros ($2.3 billion) in charges.
“Our objective, as we said in January, is to deliver 18 airplanes,” Airbus spokeswoman Susie Crowley said in a telephone interview, declining to comment on specific customers. “We can’t really comment on future delivery planning by customer. This is really their privilege to talk about what they are taking.”
EADS fell as much as 15 cents, or 1.6 per cent, to 9.30 euros and was trading at 9.32 euros as 9.09 am in Paris. The stock has lost 23 per cent this year, reducing the company’s market value to 7.59 billion euros.
<B>Qantas, Emirates</B><BR>
Singapore Airlines Ltd. and Qantas Airways Ltd. say they will take four A380s each this year, while Air France-KLM Group expects two. Emirates plans to get seven A380s in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2010, equating to five deliveries in the calendar year. That would yield a total of 15 of the planes, which have a list price of $327 million.
Airlines including Air France and Kingfisher Airlines Ltd of India have deferred A380 deliveries as travel growth slows because of the global recession.
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Emirates, which operates four of the planes, says it may delay some of the 54 still on order.
The super-sized plane offers economies of scale that Airbus says can help in tough times as slumping demand leads airlines to drop flights between secondary cities and focus on flying to larger hubs, with smaller craft fanning out to minor locations. The allure weakens if a severe travel slump means an airline is flying a larger plane more empty.
<B>Delivery goal</B><BR>
Airliner orders are generally holding up, planemakers say, because carriers want more fuel-efficient models. Airbus has predicted 483 deliveries this year, the same as for last year.
Even so, Toulouse, France-based Airbus anticipates that deliveries may drop as much as 15 per cent next year in a worse-case scenario before picking up in 2011. Chicago-based Boeing has predicted increased deliveries this year even as it studies reducing output.
Airbus set a goal of 12 A380 handovers in 2008 and achieved it. Besides the four airline customers for the A380 that are expecting the plane this year, other companies in line say they are counting on getting the aircraft in subsequent years.
Deutsche Lufthansa AG has no deliveries set for this year after planning to take a first A380 in December. Its initial order was pushed back by Airbus to 2010. “We don’t know the reason why,” said Jan Baerwalde, a spokesman for the Cologne, Germany-based carrier.
Airbus has struggled to get to a second stage of output in which planes are built in a more automated “serial production” fashion, rather than cabling them individually to avoid earlier errors, Chief Executive Officer Tom Enders said in January.
One difficulty this year is that Airbus will be producing an initial A380 for Air France. Building a plane for a new client entails customization that can lead to teething problems.
<B>Thai Delay</B><BR>
Thai Airways International PCL was told late last year by Airbus that the delivery of its first A380 will be delayed to 2011 from 2010.
“Airbus claimed that they have a problem with its logistics,” Raj Tanta-Nanta, the carrier’s vice president for investor relations, said in a phone interview. “This is the second delay. The exact month of delivery will have to be worked out again.”
International Lease Finance Corp., the U.S. lessor that’s the largest Airbus and Boeing customer, also doesn’t expect A380s this year.
Earlier last year, Airbus predicted it would provide 21 A380s to customers in 2009. The company trimmed the figure in December to 18.
At the same time, the superjumbos in service with Emirates, the largest customer for the plane, have had technical problems.
An Emirates delegation cited a series of defects with the plane when it visited Airbus in Toulouse, Der Spiegel reported March 14. The magazine said that Emirates, in a 46-page presentation after the visit, said breakdowns had grounded the airline’s A380s for 500 hours. Emirates and Airbus have confirmed there have been problems and Airbus says it’s working “intensively” on solutions.