A380-800

Airbus's chief salesman John Leahy is confident the airframer can
achieve its target of consistently selling at least 30 A380s a year,
but admits that this is proving a challenge in 2012.

The airframer has secured just four new orders so far this year -
four aircraft from Russian carrier Transaero - and Leahy, who is
Airbus's chief operating officer for customers, says that the 30-sales
target is becoming "more difficult as we get closer to the end of the
year, but we still have a lot of demand" for the 525-seater.

Leahy accepts the A380's current wing-crack issue has hampered sales
efforts in the short term: "Whenever you have an issue like that it
slows down discussions. People who are thinking about buying it say they
want the aircraft coming off the line with the new wing," he says.



"We'll have that behind us very quickly. We're talking about a 20-30
year programme and [we are] not worried about the next couple of
months."

In its latest market forecast, Airbus predicts 20-year demand for
1,330 very large aircraft in the A380's category, of which it expects to
capture at least a 50% market share. This equates to approximately 30
deliveries a year and Leahy is resolute in his belief that this is
achievable: "There's no way that the traffic growth [forecast for the
industry] can occur without larger aircraft. The A380 is not just larger
but it is more comfortable, more fuel efficient and much, much quieter.
Of course we're going to be selling them at 30 a year."



http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/video-leahy-admits-a380-near-term-sales-difficult-but-resolute-in-long-term-demand-376088/

Airbus is underlining the positive effect that a number of retrofit measures on various systems has had on A380 dispatch.

A total of 82 A380s have been delivered, including the entire complement ordered by initial customer Singapore Airlines.

A380 marketing head Richard Carcaillet says the retrofit improvements lifted the fleet's dispatch reliability rate by a percentage point, to 99.3%, from the beginning of 2012.

The improvement has been notable during the course of delivery of the past 25 aircraft, he says.

Modifications have been made to systems such as landing-gear door sensors which, he says, were "a bit too twitchy" as well as fuel pumps, electro-hydraulic actuators and door systems.


Emirites A380 at ILA

Credit: BillyPix

While the retrofit actions have been "nothing spectacular", Carcaillet says they have made a large difference to the type's operational statistics. "For weeks on end [the A380s] just fly, fly, fly," he says.

Carcaillet insists the wing-rib bracket cracking issue is not responsible for a dip in A380 sales because the airframer is marketing slots for 2015, beyond the date by which the problem will be resolved.

Airbus admits the target of 30 orders for 2012 is looking increasingly tough to meet, but Carcaillet says there are several "good campaigns" under way in Asia, Europe and the USA, with interest equally split between new and existing customers.

He points out that the increasing integration of airline networks through alliances means more passengers are being connected to the A380 on their journeys.

"Every airline that wants to fly in this game at network level has to be looking at the A380," he says. Carcaillet claims carriers are "taking time to look around to see what other airlines are doing", and he believes a domino effect will result once the interest converts into orders.

“The surprise that came out of the conference call is the degree to which Airbus still has open slots for A320s and A380s in 2014, 2015,”

Still, the company remains committed to reaching program “break-even” by 2015, he said.

EADS expects certification before the end of the year for its “forward-fit” solution to the wing cracking problem on “fresh-build” A380s scheduled for assembly in 2013 and delivery in 2014. “This is a full metallic solution, so I think that’s very straightforward,” said Wilhelm during the company’s quarterly earnings call. Airbus is incorporating what Wilhelm called its retrofit solution in the A380 flight-test aircraft “as we speak” and plans intensive flight testing “in the weeks to come,” in time for certification some time around the end of the year.

“Don’t nail me down on whether it’s December or January, but it should be around the year-end, which is key for sure to proceed with a retrofit campaign with all of the customers as had been agreed,” he concluded.

Airbus a annoncé lundi avoir livré 22 A380 cette année à fin octobre,
en ligne pour atteindre son objectif de 30 livraisons fixé pour 2012
malgré les perturbations suscitées par la découverte en début d'année de
fissures sur les ailes du très gros porteur.
La filiale du groupe d'aérospatiale
et de défense EADS, qui a livré cinq A380 lors du seul mois d'octobre, a
en revanche récemment reconnu que son objectif de 30 commandes cette
année serait difficile à atteindre. Il n'en a en effet reçues que quatre
sur les dix mois à fin octobre.

EADS a annoncé jeudi dernier, lors de
la publication de ses résultats trimestriels, une charge d'environ 260
millions d'euros sur l'exercice liée aux réparations des fissures des
ailes des 30 A380 qu'il prévoit de livrer cette année.

Au total, Airbus a engrangé 460
commandes brutes sur la période janvier-octobre, soit un total de 403
commandes nettes après annulations, et a livré 462 avions.
http://www.boursorama.com/actualites/airbus-a-livre-22-a380-a-fin-octobre-0b85af9e1b8d88a4e53a95f693adc839