Airbus has postponed delivery of 12 A380 jumbo jet planes to the type's biggest customer -Emirates, as part of cutting production ra...
Airbus has postponed delivery of 12 A380 jumbo jet planes to the type's biggest customer -Emirates, as part of cutting production rate of the double decker passenger jet.
Airbus says its has reached into separate agreements with the airline and engine maker Rolls Royce as a part of the production cut owing to poor market demands.
Six aircraft deliveries from 2017 to 2018 and six from 2018 to 2019 will be deferred as a part of the agreement.
Emirates selected Rolls Royce Trent 900 engines to power 50 of the 140 A380 the airline has ordered. It is scheduled to take the first three Trent 900 powered A380s by this week.
Introduction of fuel efficient twin jets like Boeing 787 Dreamliner eroded the market for very large four engined jumbo jets like the A380 and the Boeing 747 as twin-jets are more efficient and easier to fill seats.
Even though the A380 program had its break even in 2015, the planned production cut to half the present rate of 24 aircraft per year from 2018 could push the program to loss.
Emirates currently have 85 of the type in service, all powered by the Engine Alliance GP7000 engine.
Emirates’ entire fleet is now made up completely of Boeing 777s and Airbus A380s, as it recently retired the last of its Airbus A330 and A340 aircraft.
As of November 2016, Airbus has delivered 200 A380s and have a backlog for 119 aircraft.
