The future of the twin decked aircraft depends on whether Airbus can strike a deal with its main airline customer Emirates to accept six to eight new aircraft per year.
In 2017 Airbus built 15 A380s. In 2018 it will build 12 with a ramp down in production to six per year beyond.
Fabrice Brégier, president Airbus commercial aircraft, said that a ramp down to six would be an, “industrially robust process” to keep the plane in production until orders picked up again in the longer term.
So far Airbus has built and delivered 222 A380s with 95 still in its backlog.
John Leahy, chief operating officer customers, at Airbus said: “We are still talking to Emirates. They are the only airline in the current marketplace that has the ability to take a minimum of six per year, for a period of eight to ten years. If we can’t work out a deal with Emirates then we will have to shut down the programme, but I am hopeful that we can work out a deal and then add more customers.”
Leahy said that the A380’s, “time will come” as increasing congestion at airports would mean there would eventually be a need for larger aircraft.
Airbus also believes that the A380, which is capable of taking up to 853 passengers, has massive commercial potential in large emerging markets such as China.
Brégier commented: “We need to convince the airlines that they can increase their market share and they can increase their image by buying the A380 and operating them from the big Chinese hubs airports. The Chinese market will be the biggest one in the world and the biggest market needs the biggest aircraft.”
The A380’s challenging prospects were only part of a generally upbeat announcement of Airbus’ recent orders and deliveries.
In 2017 the company delivered 718 aircraft, 30 more than the previous year. Ramp-up up rates on its other programmes such as the A350 and A320 were increasing, with particularly strong sales in the single aisle market. In terms of revenues the company had a 51% market share compared to its main rival Boeing with 49%.
However, Brégier revealed that there had been problems with deliveries of the new A320neo (new engine option) single aisle aircraft, mainly due to technical issues that had arisen with the engine suppliers. Both engine builders, Pratt & Whitney with its (GTF) geared turbofan engine and CFM’s new LEAP engine, had experienced technical problems, which had slowed delivery to the Airbus factory in Toulouse.
He said: “There have been problems because of the new technology involved in the GTF and LEAP engines, however, we delivered 181neos which was close to the minimum target we had set of 200 for the year.”
Build and delivery rates for the A320ceo (current engine option) were still healthy with 377 produced last year.
During the aircraft builder’s press conference, the spokesmen were also asked about Airbus’s deal with Bombardier to help manage production of its C Series passenger aircraft, designed for the lower seat number, single aisle jet market and the cause of a current legal dispute between Boeing and Bombardier.
Brégier stated: “The C Series aircraft range is very complimentary to our A320. The agreement means it will be managed as part of the Airbus family. We now have to go through the regulatory process, but we anticipate the deal may be closed in the second half of 2018. Until then Bombardier will be promoting the aircraft themselves, but beyond that I feel the aircraft has huge potential.”
Airbus’ announcement ended on a positive note with 2017’s results being better than had been predicted.
Leahy concluded: “The market is stronger everywhere; air traffic is 7% up. Orders are stronger than we thought at the beginning of the year. Currently an Airbus plane takes off or lands every 1.4 seconds.”