Business travellers hoping to fly the new Airbus superjumbo are set to be disappointed by the announcement of further delays to the A380 production schedule. The aircraft maker has told airlines that production problems will mean that the first of the giant planes will not be delivered to them before October 2007. Just 13 of the planes will be delivered in 2008, 25 in 2009 and 45 in 2010.
The delays have arisen because of problems connecting the electrical wiring between the main bodies of the planes – built in Germany – and the wings – built in the UK.
Airbus said today: “In June, the amount of work to be done to finalise the installation of the electrical harnesses into the forward and rear section of the fuselage had been underestimated. Beyond the complexity of the cable installation, the root cause of the problem is the fact that the 3D Digital Mock up, which facilitates the design of the electrical harnesses installation, was implemented late and that the people working on it were in their learning curve.”
Singapore Airlines, which is due to receive the first A380, said: “The delays are disappointing; all the more so because the flight test and certification programme is proceeding well, and the delays are down to production issues. Singapore Airlines is assessing the impact that the delays, just notified, will have on forward capacity growth, and assessing options to mitigate the situation. However, new capacity will be injected to the Singapore Airlines fleet, with the first of 19 Boeing 777-300ER aircraft being delivered in November 2006. Six of these aircraft will be delivered before the end of 2006, and ten will be in service by mid-2007.”
The airline has said it will receive compensation from Airbus but the amount will remain confidential.
Qantas will receive its first aircraft in August 2008, some two years late. Qantas’ chief financial officer, Peter Gregg, said: “We expect to have four aircraft by the end of 2008 and seven by mid-2009, which we understand maintains the original delivery schedule with the other two launch airlines."
