Risk for Airbus A350 program

DOHA --Abu Dhabi-owned Etihad Airways said Tuesday it has reduced firm orders for Airbus A350-1000 jetliners, but is retaining options to buy more of the aircraft. Etihad was confirming an earlier report it had cut its firm orders to 19 aircraft from 25.


"Etihad Airways has a great deal of confidence in the A350 XWB program and we are delighted we have been able to retain attractive delivery positions for the (A350-)1000 derivative," an Etihad spokesman said.


"While we will be reducing our firm orders, our 25 options and purchase rights for this fleet remain in place and will no doubt play a crucial role in the airline's growth," the spokesman added.


A spokesman for Airbus confirmed Etihad had canceled some planes. "Yes, linked to their fleet requirements which evolve over time and can change," the spokesman said in an emailed statement.


In June, Airbus, a unit of European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. NV (EAD.FR), or EADS, said it would increase the size and power of the A350-1000, delaying the aircraft's launch to 2017 from 2015. Chief Executive Tom Enders has said there may be "short-term" issues regarding discussions with existing A350-1000 customers.


To help out some that are struggling, Airbus is providing them with teams of engineers and technicians to provide technical advice to minimize delays that might create bottlenecks in the program.


The first version of the A350 is slated to enter into service with customer airlines in 2014. Airbus already has been obliged to push back the entry into service date by up to six months to ensure that the project is mature before it gets to the industrial stage, unlike the A380 superjumbo program in which errors weren't fixed before they reached the final assembly stage. Final assembly of the A350 is slated to start before the end of this year.


"We learned our lessons from the A380, and from Boeing Co.," which also ran into costly delays with its 787 Dreamliner program, Bregier said.


Airbus's chief salesman, John Leahy, said Tuesday that airlines are clamoring for earlier delivery slots for a later, stretched derivative of the A350 called the A350-1000, but none are available before 2019 or 2020. Airbus has decided to delay that program to allow it to be equipped with more powerful Rolls-Royce engines. "There's no way we can accelerate the A350-1000 program because we need to get feedback from flight testing of the smaller A350-900 to fine-tune the design in terms of weight reduction, and to allow time for Rolls-Royce to develop the engine," he said. Airbus has said that it sees the A350-1000 as the plane in its catalog that will kill the Boeing 777.


Airbus disclosed earlier Tuesday that Etihad Airways has canceled firm orders for six A350-1000s.

Airbus is No. 1 jet-maker in 2011

EU aircraft maker Airbus captured a record number of orders for new commercial jets last year, taking in 1,419 orders, worth $140 billion.


Airbus soared past Chicago-based rival Boeing Co.'s total of 805 aircraft in 2011 and its previous record of 1,413 net orders in 2007.


The big seller for Airbus with 1,226 bookings was the upcoming A320neo, which is a new fuel-sipping version of its bestselling jet, the A320. Airbus plans on delivering the first one in 2015.


In 2011, Airbus said it delivered a total of 534 aircraft.


The company plans on hitting a target of 570 deliveries during 2012 but expects commercial orders to drop more than 50% to between 600 and 650.


Even so, Airbus wants to hit an all-time production high of 42 aircraft a month in 2012 of the single-aisle A320. It also wants to meet a monthly goal of 9.5 wide-body twin-engine A330s and produce three of its double-decker A380 super jumbo jets each month.


First, the 2011 results: In a record sales year, Airbus delivered 534 airplanes to Boeing's 477, mostly due to faster production of its smaller, single-aisle A320 jets.


However, Boeing delivered 82 of its more valuable very large jets, compared with 26 superjumbo jets for Airbus.


As a result of that imbalance, a Seattle Times analysis using market-pricing data provided by aircraft-valuation firm Avitas estimates Boeing's total revenue from its deliveries at $33 billion, compared with an estimated $32 billion in Airbus revenue.


Looking at the value of the jets also considerably narrows the gap in sales.


The Seattle Times analysis pegs the value of the 2011 Airbus orders at $70 billion, compared with $66 billion for Boeing.


That's a 51.5 percent market share for Airbus, far less than the 64 percent share in units sold.


And what are the prospects for the year ahead?


Richard Aboulafia, an aviation analyst with the Teal Group, said jet sales in 2011 were skewed by the eight-month gap between the launch of Airbus' new single-aisle jet, the A320neo, and Boeing's response, the 737 MAX.


That gap meant the Airbus neo had phenomenal sales last year, with 1,226 firm orders, while the MAX barely got off the ground, with 150 firm orders.


Airbus spokesman Clay McConnell acknowledged this year's sales must come down from last year's high.


"Clearly, the neo is what drove that," he said. "No one expects us to have another year in 2012 like we had in 2011.

Airbus grabs record number of orders

Airbus took in a record number of orders for new commercial aircraft last year as strong demand for its revamped single-aisle plane helped it best U.S. rival Boeing Co. in the race for orders for the fourth year running.


The European jet maker said Tuesday that it took in 1,419 net new orders in 2011, worth $140 billion, well above Boeing's total of 805 aircraft. That topped the previous record of 1,413 net orders recorded by Boeing in 2007.


Airbus also delivered 534 aircraft last year, up from 510 a year earlier and keeping the title of world's biggest jet maker that it has held since 2003. Boeing delivered 477 aircraft in 2011.


For this year, Airbus targets around 570 jet deliveries, including about 30 of its A380 super jumbo, the world's largest commercial jet.


Louis Gallois, the CEO of Airbus parent company EADS, said 2011 revenue will be "nicely above" the euro45.8 billion recorded in 2010. EADS reports its 2011 earnings in early March.


Gallois is due to retire in May but the EADS executive declined to comment on his succession plans. He spoke more freely about the ongoing European financial crisis, saying that the credit downgrades of nine European countries including France by rating agency Standard & Poor's last week "is only making things more complex."


"We need stronger and faster European coordination to solve the crisis," Gallois said. He offered up Airbus and EADS as an example for European leaders to draw on. "We are more than a symbol of European integration. We are the part of Europe that works," Gallois said.


The company plans on hitting a target of 570 deliveries during 2012, but foresees commercial orders dropping more than 50% to between 600 and 650.


Even so, Airbus wants to hit an all-time production high of 42 aircraft a month in 2012 of the single-aisle A320. It also wants to meet a monthly goal of 9.5 wide-body twin-engine A330s and produce three of its double-decker A380 super jumbo jets each month.


The production increase should bode well for Airbus suppliers in the U.S., more than 100 of which are in California. For the last three years, the company, which is based in Toulouse, France, has increased its spending in the U.S. to $10 billion.


“The continuous ramp-up to unprecedented production rates in all programs will demand a strong focus on the supply chain and our own delivery capabilities,” Airbus Chief Executive Tom Enders said in a statement. “The hiring of more than 4,000 skilled people in 2012 will further support achieving this goal.

A380

Airbus A380 is a double-deck, wide-body, four-engine airliner manufactured by the European corporation Airbus, a subsidiary of EADS. The largest passenger airliner in the world, the A380 made its maiden flight on 27 April 2005 from Toulouse, France, and made its first commercial flight on 25 October 2007 from Singapore to Sydney with Singapore Airlines. The aircraft was known as the Airbus A3XX during much of its development phase, but the nickname Superjumbo has since become associated with it.
The A380's upper deck extends along the entire length of the fuselage, and its width is equivalent to that of a widebody aircraft. This allows for an A380-800's cabin with 5,146 square feet (478.1 m2) of floor space; 49% more floor space than the next-largest airliner, the Boeing 747-400 with 3,453 square feet (320.8 m2), and provides seating for 525 people in a typical three-class configuration or up to 853 people in all-economy class configurations. The postponed freighter version, the A380-800F, is offered as one of the largest freight aircraft, with a payload capacity exceeded only by the Antonov An-225. The A380-800 has a design range of 15,200 km (8,200 nmi; 9,400 mi), sufficient to fly from New York to Hong Kong for example, and a cruising speed of Mach 0.85 (about 900 km/h or 560 mph at cruising altitude).




In the summer of 1988, a group of Airbus engineers led by Jean Roeder began working in secret on the development of a ultra-high-capacity airliner (UHCA), both to complete its own range of products and to break the dominance that Boeing had enjoyed in this market segment since the early 1970s with its 747. McDonnell Douglas unsuccessfully offered its smaller, double-deck MD-12 concept for sale. Roeder was given approval for further evaluations of the UHCA after a formal presentation to the President and CEO in June 1990. The megaproject was announced at the 1990 Farnborough Air Show, with the stated goal of 15% lower operating costs than the 747-400. Airbus organised four teams of designers, one from each of its partners (Aérospatiale, Deutsche Aerospace AG, British Aerospace, CASA) to propose new technologies for its future aircraft designs. The designs would be presented in 1992 and the most competitive designs would be used.
In January 1993, Boeing and several companies in the Airbus consortium started a joint feasibility study of an aircraft known as the Very Large Commercial Transport (VLCT), aiming to form a partnership to share the limited market. This joint study was abandoned two years later, Boeing's interest having decreased because analysts thought that such a product would unlikely earn the $15-billion in development costs. Despite the fact that only two airlines had expressed public interest in purchasing such a plane, Airbus was already pursuing its own large plane project. Analysts suggested that Boeing instead would pursue stretching their 747 design, and that air travel was already moving away from the hub and spoke system that consolidated traffic into large planes, and toward more non-stop routes that could be served by smaller planes.


On 19 December 2000, the supervisory board of newly restructured Airbus voted to launch a €8.8-billion programme to build the A3XX, re-christened as the A380,with 50 firm orders from six launch customers. The A380 designation was a break from previous Airbus families, which had progressed sequentially from A300 to A340. It was chosen because the number 8 resembles the double-deck cross section, and is a lucky number in some Asian countries where the aircraft was being marketed.The aircraft’s configuration was finalised in early 2001, and manufacturing of the first A380 wing box component started on 23 January 2002. The development cost of the A380 had grown to €11 billion when the first aircraft was completed.


Geographical logistics sequence for the A380, with final assembly in Toulouse
Major structural sections of the A380 are built in France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Due to their size, they are brought to the assembly hall (the Jean-Luc Lagardère Plant) in Toulouse in France by surface transportation, though some parts are moved by the A300-600ST Beluga aircraft used in the construction of other Airbus models. Components of the A380 are provided by suppliers from around the world; the five largest contributors, by value, are Rolls-Royce, Safran, United Technologies, General Electric and Goodrich.
For the surface movement of large A380 structural components, a complex transportation route known as the Itinéraire à Grand Gabarit was developed. This involved the construction of a fleet of roll-on/roll-off (RORO) ships and barges, the construction of port facilities and the development of new and modified roads to accommodate oversized road convoys.
The front and rear sections of the fuselage are loaded onto one of three roll-on/roll-off (RORO) ships in Hamburg in northern Germany, from where they are shipped to the United Kingdom. The wings, which are manufactured at Filton in Bristol and Broughton in North Wales, are transported by barge to Mostyn docks, where the ship adds them to its cargo. In Saint-Nazaire in western France, the ship trades the fuselage sections from Hamburg for larger, assembled sections, some of which include the nose. The ship unloads in Bordeaux. Afterwards, the ship picks up the belly and tail sections by Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA in Cádiz in southern Spain, and delivers them to Bordeaux. From there, the A380 parts are transported by barge to Langon, and by oversize road convoys to the assembly hall in Toulouse.
After assembly, the aircraft are flown to Hamburg Finkenwerder Airport (XFW) to be furnished and painted. It takes 3,600 L (950 US gal) of paint to cover the 3,100 m2 (33,000 sq ft) exterior of an A380. Airbus sized the production facilities and supply chain for a production rate of four A380s per month.




Five A380s were built for testing and demonstration purposes. The first A380, serial number MSN001 and registration F-WWOW, was unveiled at a ceremony in Toulouse on 18 January 2005. Its maiden flight took place at 8:29 UTC (10:29 a.m. local time) 27 April 2005. This plane, equipped with Trent 900 engines, flew from Toulouse Blagnac International Airport with a flight crew of six headed by chief test pilot Jacques Rosay. After successfully landing three hours and 54 minutes later, Rosay said flying the A380 had been “like handling a bicycle” .
On 1 December 2005 the A380 achieved its maximum design speed of Mach 0.96 (versus normal cruising speed of Mach 0.85), in a shallow dive, completing the opening of the flight envelope. On 10 January 2006 the A380 made its first transatlantic flight to Medellín in Colombia, to test engine performance at a high altitude airport.[citation needed] It arrived in North America on 6 February, landing in Iqaluit, Nunavut in Canada for cold-weather testing.


A380 flying a banked turn at the ILA 2006 in Berlin, Germany
Initial production of the A380 was troubled by delays attributed to the 530 km (330 mi) of wiring in each aircraft. Airbus cited as underlying causes the complexity of the cabin wiring (100,000 wires and 40,300 connectors), its concurrent design and production, the high degree of customisation for each airline, and failures of configuration management and change control. Specifically, it would appear that German and Spanish Airbus facilities continued to use CATIA version 4, while British and French sites migrated to version 5. This caused overall configuration management problems, at least in part because wiring harnesses manufactured using aluminium rather than copper conductors necessitated special design rules including non-standard dimensions and bend radii; these were not easily transferred between versions of the software.
Airbus announced the first delay in June 2005 and notified airlines that deliveries would be delayed by six months. This reduced the total number of planned deliveries by the end of 2009 from about 120 to 90–100. On 13 June 2006, Airbus announced a second delay, with the delivery schedule undergoing an additional shift of six to seven months. Although the first delivery was still planned before the end of 2006, deliveries in 2007 would drop to only 9 aircraft, and deliveries by the end of 2009 would be cut to 70–80 aircraft. The announcement caused a 26% drop in the share price of Airbus's parent, EADS, and led to the departure of EADS CEO Noël Forgeard, Airbus CEO Gustav Humbert, and A380 programme manager Charles Champion. On 3 October 2006, upon completion of a review of the A380 program, the CEO of Airbus, Christian Streiff, announced a third delay, pushing the first delivery to October 2007, to be followed by 13 deliveries in 2008, 25 in 2009, and the full production rate of 45 aircraft per year in 2010. The delay also increased the earnings shortfall projected by Airbus through 2010 to €4.8 billion.




As Airbus prioritised the work on the A380-800 over the A380-800F, freighter orders were cancelled by FedEx and UPS, or converted to A380-800 by Emirates and ILFC. Airbus suspended work on the freighter version, but said it remained on offer, albeit without a service entry date. For the passenger version Airbus negotiated a revised delivery schedule and compensation with the 13 customers, all of which retained their orders with some placing subsequent orders, including Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Qantas, Air France, Qatar Airways, and Korean Air.
The first A380 with redesigned wiring harnesses achieved power-on in April 2008, with a 3½ month delay. On 13 May 2008 Airbus announced reduced deliveries for the years 2008 (12) and 2009 (21). After further manufacturing setbacks, Airbus reduced plans to deliver 14 A380s in 2009, down from the previously revised target of 18. A total of 10 A380s were delivered in 2009.




The first aircraft delivered (MSN003, registered 9V-SKA) was handed over to Singapore Airlines on 15 October 2007 and entered into service on 25 October 2007 with an inaugural flight between Singapore and Sydney (flight number SQ380).Passengers bought seats in a charity online auction paying between $560 and $100,380. Two months later, Singapore Airlines CEO Chew Choong Seng said that the A380 was performing better than both the airline and Airbus had anticipated, burning 20% less fuel per passenger than the airline's existing 747-400 fleet. Emirates was the second airline to take delivery of the A380 on 28 July 2008 and started flights between Dubai and New York on 1 August 2008. Qantas followed on 19 September 2008, starting flights between Melbourne and Los Angeles on 20 October 2008. By the end of 2008, 890,000 passengers had flown on 2,200 A380 flights totalling 21,000 hours.
Wikinews has related news: First A380 enters commercial service
In February 2009 the millionth A380 passenger flying with Singapore Airlines was recorded.In May 2009 it was reported that the A380 had carried 1.5 million passengers during 41 thousand flight hours and 4200 flights. Air France received their first A380 on 30 October 2009, arriving at Charles de Gaulle Airport. Lufthansa received its first A380 on 19 May 2010. By July 2010 the 31 A380s then in service had flown 156,000 hours with passengers in 17,000 flights, transporting 6,000,000 passengers between 20 international destinations.




The new Airbus was initially offered in two models. The A380-800 original configuration carried 555 passengers in a three-class configuration or 853 passengers (538 on the main deck and 315 on the upper deck) in a single-class economy configuration. In May 2007 Airbus began marketing a configuration with 30 fewer passengers, now 525 passengers in three classes, traded for 370 km (200 nmi) more range, to better reflect trends in premium class accommodation.The design range for the -800 model is 15,200 km (8,200 nmi); capable of flying for example from Hong Kong to New York, or from Sydney to Istanbul non-stop. The second model, the A380-800F freighter, would carry 150 tonnes of cargo 10,400 km (5,600 nmi). The -800F development was put on hold as Airbus prioritised the passenger version and all cargo orders were cancelled. Future variants may include an A380-900 stretch seating about 656 passengers (or up to 960 passengers in an all economy configuration) and an extended range version with the same passenger capacity as the A380-800.
“ The lack of engine noise — it's 50% quieter than a 747-400 on takeoff — was downright eerie. The A380 is so big it's difficult to sense its speed, and its upper deck is so far away from the engines the noise dissipates. ”
—TIME


Airbus used similar cockpit layout, procedures and handling characteristics to those of other Airbus aircraft, to reduce crew training costs. Accordingly, the A380 features an improved glass cockpit, and fly-by-wire flight controls linked to side-sticks. The improved cockpit displays feature eight 15-by-20 cm (5.9-by-7.9 in) liquid crystal displays, all of which are physically identical and interchangeable; comprising two Primary Flight Displays, two navigation displays, one engine parameter display, one system display and two Multi-Function Displays. These MFDs are new with the A380, and provide an easy-to-use interface to the flight management system—replacing three multifunction control and display units. They include QWERTY keyboards and trackballs, interfacing with a graphical "point-and-click" display navigation system.




The A380 can be fitted with two types of engines: A380-841, -842 and -843F with Rolls-Royce Trent 900, and A380-861 and -863F with Engine Alliance GP7000 turbofans. The Trent 900 is a derivative of the Trent 800, and the GP7000 has roots from the GE90 and PW4000. The Trent 900 core is a scaled version of the Trent 500, but incorporates the swept fan technology of the stillborn Trent 8104. The GP7200 has a GE90-derived core and PW4090-derived fan and low-pressure turbo-machinery. Only two of the four engines are fitted with thrust reversers.
Noise reduction was an important requirement in the A380's design, and particularly affects engine design. Both engine types allow the aircraft to achieve QC/2 departure and QC/0.5 arrival noise limits under the Quota Count system set by London Heathrow Airport, which is a key destination for the A380.


While most of the fuselage is aluminium, composite materials comprise more than 20% of the A380's airframe. Carbon-fibre reinforced plastic, glass-fibre reinforced plastic and quartz-fibre reinforced plastic are used extensively in wings, fuselage sections (such as the undercarriage and rear end of fuselage), tail surfaces, and doors. The A380 is the first commercial airliner to have a central wing box made of carbon fibre reinforced plastic. It is also the first to have a smoothly contoured wing cross section. The wings of other commercial airliners are partitioned span-wise into sections. This flowing, continuous cross section optimises aerodynamic efficiency. Thermoplastics are used in the leading edges of the slats. The new material GLARE (GLAss-REinforced fibre metal laminate) is used in the upper fuselage and on the stabilisers' leading edges. This aluminium-glass-fibre laminate is lighter and has better corrosion and impact resistance than conventional aluminium alloys used in aviation. Unlike earlier composite materials, it can be repaired using conventional aluminium repair techniques. Newer weldable aluminium alloys are also used. This enables the widespread use of laser beam welding manufacturing techniques — eliminating rows of rivets and resulting in a lighter, stronger structure.




The A380 employs an Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA) architecture, first used in advanced military aircraft, such as the F-22 Raptor, F-35, and Dassault Rafale. It is based on a commercial off-the-shelf approach, using the Integrity-178B Operating System. Many previous dedicated single-purpose avionics computers are replaced by dedicated software housed in onboard processor modules and servers. This cuts the number of parts, provides increased flexibility without resorting to customised avionics, and reduces costs by using commercially available computing power.
Together with IMA, the A380 avionics are highly networked. The data communication networks use Avionics Full-Duplex Switched Ethernet, following the ARINC 664 standard. The data networks are switched, full-duplex, star-topology and based on 100baseTX fast-Ethernet. This reduces the amount of wiring required and minimises latency.
The Network Systems Server (NSS) is the heart of A380 paperless cockpit. It eliminates the bulky manuals and charts traditionally carried by pilots; the NSS has enough inbuilt robustness to eliminate onboard backup paper documents. The A380's network and server system stores data and offers electronic documentation, providing a required equipment list, navigation charts, performance calculations, and an aircraft logbook. All are accessible to the pilot from two additional 27 cm (11 in) diagonal LCDs, each controlled by its own keyboard and cursor control device mounted in the foldable table in front of each pilot.




Power-by-wire flight control actuators are used for the first time in civil service to back up the primary hydraulic flight control actuators. During certain manoeuvres, they augment the primary actuators. They have self-contained hydraulic and electrical power supplies. They are used as electro-hydrostatic actuators (EHA) in the aileron and elevator, electric and hydraulic motors to drive the slats as well as electrical backup hydrostatic actuators (EBHA) for the rudder and some spoilers.
The aircraft's 350 bar (35 MPa or 5,000 psi) hydraulic system is an improvement over the typical 210 bar (21 MPa or 3,000 psi) system found in other commercial aircraft since the 1940s. First used in military aircraft, higher pressure hydraulics reduce the size of pipelines, actuators and other components for overall weight reduction. The 350 bar pressure is generated by eight de-clutchable hydraulic pumps. Pipelines are typically made from titanium and the system features both fuel and air-cooled heat exchangers. The hydraulics system architecture also differs significantly from other airliners. Self-contained electrically-powered hydraulic power packs serve as backups for the primary systems, instead of a secondary hydraulic system, saving weight and reducing maintenance.


The A380 produces 50% less cabin noise than currently flying 747 models and has greater cabin air pressure, equivalent to an altitude of 1,520 m (5,000 ft) versus 2,440 m (8,000 ft). Both features are expected to reduce travel fatigue.The upper and lower decks are connected by two stairways, fore and aft, wide enough to accommodate two passengers side-by-side.


Compared to a 747, the A380 has larger windows and overhead bins, and 60 cm (2.0 ft) of extra headroom. The wider cabin allows for up to 48 cm (19 in) wide economy seats at a 10 abreast configuration on the main deck, while 10 abreast seating on the 747 has a seat width of only 44.5 cm (17.5 in).
In a 555-passenger configuration, the A380 has 33% more seats than a 747-400 in a standard three-class configuration but 50% more cabin area and volume, resulting in more space per passenger. Its maximum certified carrying capacity is 853 passengers in an all-economy-class configuration. The two full-length decks and wide stairways allow multiple seat configurations of the Airbus A380. The planned and announced configurations go from 450 passengers, used by Qantas, to 840 passengers, used by Air Austral. Some operators have configured their aircraft for three-class service and developed special amenities for a number of passengers paying for first class or business class tickets, such as spacious private cabins with separate beds, lounges, and fully reclining seats. Air France has installed an electronic art gallery exclusively for first class and business class passengers, while Emirates has installed shower spas.
Airbus's initial publicity stressed the comfort and space of the A380's cabin,anticipating installations such as relaxation areas, bars, duty-free shops, and beauty salons.Virgin Atlantic Airways already offers a bar as part of its "Upper Class" service on its A340 and 747 aircraft, and has announced plans to include casinos, double beds, and gymnasiums on its A380s. Singapore Airlines offers twelve partly-enclosed first-class suites on its A380, each featuring one full and one secondary seat, a full-sized bed, desk, and personal storage. Four of these suites, C and D on rows 3 and 4, have dividing walls that can be removed to create two double suites with two beds modified into one double bed. Qantas Airways has shown a product for a long flat-bed that converts from the seat but does not have privacy doors.Emirates's fourteen first-class private suites have shared access to two "shower spas". 


In the 1990s, aircraft manufacturers were planning to introduce larger planes than the Boeing 747. In a common effort of the International Civil Aviation Organization, ICAO, with manufacturers, airports and its member agencies, the "80-metre box" was created, the airport gates allowing planes up to 80 m (260 ft) wingspan and length to be accommodated.Airbus designed the A380 according to these guidelines, and to operate safely on Group V runways and taxiways, and while the U.S. FAA opposed this at an early stage, in July 2007, the FAA and EASA agreed to let the A380 operate on 45 m runways without restrictions. The A380 can land or take off on any runway that can accommodate a Boeing 747. Runway lighting and signage may need changes to provide clearance to the wings and avoid blast damage from the engines and taxiway shoulders may be required to be stabilised to reduce the likelihood of foreign object damage caused to (or by) the outboard engines, which overhang more than 25 m (82 ft) from the centre line of the aircraft.




In 2005, the ICAO recommended that provisional separation criteria for the A380 on takeoff and landing be substantially greater than for the 747 because preliminary flight test data suggested a stronger wake turbulence. These criteria were in effect while the ICAO's wake vortex steering group, with representatives from the JAA, Eurocontrol, the FAA, and Airbus, refined its 3-year study of the issue with additional flight testing. In September 2006, the working group presented its first conclusions to the ICAO.
In November 2006, the ICAO issued new interim recommendations. Replacing a blanket 10 nautical miles (19 km) separation for aircraft trailing an A380 during approach, the new distances were 6 nmi (11 km), 8 nmi (15 km) and 10 nmi (19 km) respectively for non-A380 "Heavy", "Medium", and "Light" ICAO aircraft categories. These compared with the 4 nmi (7.4 km), 5 nmi (9.3 km) and 6 nmi (11 km) spacing applicable to other "Heavy" aircraft. Another A380 following an A380 should maintain a separation of 4 nmi (7.4 km). On departure behind an A380, non-A380 "Heavy" aircraft are required to wait two minutes, and "Medium"/"Light" aircraft three minutes for time based operations. The ICAO also recommends that pilots append the term "Super" to the aircraft's callsign when initiating communication with air traffic control, in order to distinguish the A380 from "Heavy" aircraft.
In August 2008, the ICAO issued revised approach separations of 4 nmi (7.4 km) for Super (another A380), 6 nmi (11 km) for Heavy, 7 nmi (13 km) for medium/small, and 8 nmi (15 km) for light.




From 2013, Airbus will offer, as an option, improved maximum take-off weight, thus providing a better payload/range performance. The option was introduced in order to counter a perceived strength of the 747-8I, the latest revision of the Boeing 747. Maximum take-off weight is increased by 4t, to 573t. The increases are made possible by optimising the fly-by-wire control laws to reduce flight loads. British Airways and Emirates will be the first customers to receive this new option. Vietnam Airlines has shown interest in the higher-weight variant.




In November 2007, Airbus top sales executive and chief operating officer John Leahy confirmed plans for an enlarged variant, the A380-900, which would be slightly longer than the A380-800 (79.4–73 m or 260–240 ft). This version would have a seating capacity of 650 passengers in standard configuration, and approximately 900 passengers in economy-only configuration. In May 2010, Airbus announced that A380-900 production was postponed, until production of the A380-800 has stabilised. Airlines that have expressed interest in the model include Emirates, Virgin Atlantic, Cathay Pacific, Air France-KLM, Lufthansa, Kingfisher Airlines, as well as the leasing company ILFC.




A380-800 freighter


Although Airbus originally accepted orders for the freighter version, production has been suspended until the A380 production lines have settled. No firm date has been offered for delivery of the first freighter.




In 2006, industry analysts Philip Lawrence of the Aerospace Research Centre in Bristol and Richard Aboulafia of the consulting Teal Group in Fairfax anticipated 880 and 400 A380 sales respectively by 2025. According to Lawrence, parallel to the design of the A380, Airbus conducted the most extensive and thorough market analysis of commercial aviation ever undertaken, justifying its VLA (very large aircraft, those with more than 400 seats) plans, while according to Aboulafia, the rise of mid-size aircraft and market fragmentation reduced VLAs to niche market status, making such plans unjustified. The two analysts' market forecasts differed in the incorporation of spoke-hub and point-to-point models.
In 2007, Airbus estimated a demand for 1,283 passenger planes in the VLA category for the next 20 years if airport congestion remains at the current level. According to this estimate, demand could reach up to 1,771 VLAs if congestion increases. Most of this demand will be due to the urbanisation and rapid economic growth in Asia. The A380 will be used on relatively few routes, between the most saturated airports. Airbus also estimates a demand for 415 freighters in the category 120-tonne plus. Boeing, which offers the only competition in that class, the 747-8, estimates the demand for passenger VLAs at 590 and that for freighter VLAs at 370 for the period 2007–2026.
At one time the A380 was considered as a potential replacement for the existing Boeing VC-25 serving as Air Force One, but in January 2009 EADS declared that they were not going to bid for the contract, as assembling only three planes in the US would not make financial sense.


Seventeen customers have ordered the A380, including an order from aircraft lessor ILFC and one VIP order by Airbus Executive and Private Aviation. Total orders for the A380 stand at 234 as of 8 June 2010; Airbus expects 20 more orders in 2010. The biggest customer is Emirates, which in June 2010 increased its order by 32 aircraft to 90 total, or nearly 40% of all A380 orders. A total of 27 orders originally placed for the freighter version, A380-800F, were either cancelled (20) or converted to A380-800 (7), following the production delay and the subsequent suspension of the freighter programme. In mid-2009, Airbus planned to deliver 20 or more A380s in 2010.
Delivery takes place in Hamburg for customers from Europe and the Middle East and in Toulouse for customers from the rest of the world.
A380 firm net orders, by year
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Total
Orders A380-800 78 0 34 10 10 24 33 9 4 32 234
A380-800F 7 10 0 0 10 -17 -10 0 0 0 0
Deliveries A380-800 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 12 10 17 40




The following table lists airlines whose A380 aircraft have commenced commercial passenger flights. It does not include operators that have ordered A380s or taken delivery of or announced details of inaugural flights but not yet commenced commercial passenger flights. For further information, including non-commercial operators, see List of Airbus A380 orders and deliveries. Emirates is currently the largest operator of the A380 with 14 in service out of its total of 90 on order, the largest amount of any carrier. The shortest route that the A380 flies regularly is from Dubai to Jeddah with Emirates having a flight time of only 3 hours, although Air France has also operated the A380 on the even shorter Paris to London route during summer 2010.


The A380 has been involved in one aviation accident as of December 2010.
On 4 November 2010, Qantas Flight 32, en route from Singapore Changi Airport to Sydney Airport, suffered an uncontained engine failure, resulting in a series of related problems, and forcing the flight to return to Singapore. There were no injuries to the passengers or crew but two people on the ground were injured by falling debris when parts of the engine nacelle fell onto the Indonesian island of Batam. Qantas subsequently grounded all of their A380s that day subject to an internal investigation taken in conjunction with the engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce plc. Other operators of Rolls-Royce-powered A380s were also affected. Qantas flights were first resumed on 27 November 2010. Investigators have determined the cause of the explosion to be an oil leak in the Trent 900 engine.






Specifications


A size comparison between four of the largest aircraft, the Antonov An-225(green), the Hughes H-4 Hercules (gold), theBoeing 747-8 (blue), and the Airbus A380-800 (pink).
Measurement A380-800 A380-800F
Cockpit crew Two
Seating capacity 525 (3-class)
644 (2-class)
853 (1-class) 12 couriers
Length overall 72.73 m (238.6 ft)
Wingspan 79.75 m (261.6 ft)
Height 24.45 m (80.2 ft)
Wheelbase 33.58 m (110.2 ft) wing landing gear
36.85 m (120.9 ft) body landing gear
Wheel track 12.46 m (40.9 ft)
Outside fuselage width 7.14 m (23.4 ft)
Outside fuselage height 8.41 m (27.6 ft)
Maximum cabin width 6.58 m (21.6 ft) Main deck
5.92 m (19.4 ft) Upper deck (floor level)
Cabin length 49.9 m (164 ft) Main deck
44.93 m (147.4 ft) Upper deck
Wing area 845 m2 (9,100 sq ft)
Aspect ratio 7.5
Wing sweep 33.5°
Maximum taxi/ramp weight 571,000 kg (1,260,000 lb) 592,000 kg (1,310,000 lb)
Maximum take-off weight 569,000 kg (1,250,000 lb) 590,000 kg (1,300,000 lb)
Maximum landing weight 391,000 kg (860,000 lb) 427,000 kg (940,000 lb)
Maximum zero fuel weight 366,000 kg (810,000 lb) 402,000 kg (890,000 lb)
Typical Operating empty weight 276,800 kg (610,000 lb) 252,200 kg (556,000 lb)
Maximum structural payload 89,200 kg (197,000 lb) 149,800 kg (330,000 lb)
Maximum cargo volume 176 m3 (6,200 cu ft) 1,134 m3 (40,000 cu ft)
Maximum operating speed
at cruise altitude Mach 0.89
(945 km/h, 587 mph, 510 knots)
Maximum speed Mach 0.96
(at cruise altitude: 1020 km/h, 634 mph, 551 knots)
Take off run at MTOW/SL ISA 2,750 m (9,020 ft) 2,900 m (9,500 ft)
Range at design load 15,200 km (8,200 nmi, 9,400 mi) 10,400 km (5,600 nmi, 6,400 mi)
Service ceiling 13,115 m (43,028 ft)
Maximum fuel capacity 323,546 L
(85,472 US gal) 310,000 L
(81,893 US gal),
323,546 L
(85,472 US gal) option
Engines (4 x) GP7270 (A380-861)
Trent 970/B (A380-841)
Trent 972/B (A380-842) GP7277 (A380-863F)
Trent 977/B (A380-843F)
Thrust (4 x) 311 kN (70,000 lbf) - 355 kN (80,000 lbf)

Airbus

Airbus SAS, is an aircraft manufacturing subsidiary of EADS, a European aerospace company. Based in Blagnac, France, near Toulouse, and with significant activity across Europe, the company produces around half of the world's jet airliners.

Airbus began as a consortium of aerospace manufacturers. Consolidation of European defence and aerospace companies around the turn of the 21st century allowed the establishment of a simplified joint-stock company in 2001, owned by EADS (80%) and BAE Systems (20%). After a protracted sales process BAE sold its shareholding to EADS on 13 October 2006.

Airbus employs around 57,000 people at sixteen sites in four European Union countries: Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Spain. Final assembly production is at Toulouse (France), Hamburg (Germany), Seville (Spain) and, since 2009, Tianjin (People's Republic of China). Airbus has subsidiaries in the United States, Japan, PRC and India.

The company is known for producing and marketing the first commercially viable fly-by-wire airliner, the Airbus A320, and the world's largest airliner, the A380.

Airbus Industrie began as a consortium of European aviation firms to compete with American companies such as Boeing, McDonnell Douglas, and Lockheed.

While many European aircraft were innovative, even the most successful had small production runs. In 1991, Jean Pierson, then CEO and Managing Director of Airbus Industrie, described a number of factors which explained the dominant position of American aircraft manufacturers: the land mass of the United States made air transport the favoured mode of travel; a 1942 Anglo-American agreement entrusted transport aircraft production to the US; and World War II had left America with "a profitable, vigorous, powerful and structured aeronautical industry."

"For the purpose of strengthening European co-operation in the field of aviation technology and thereby promoting economic and technological progress in Europe, to take appropriate measures for the joint development and production of an airbus."

In the mid-1960s, tentative negotiations commenced regarding a European collaborative approach. Individual aircraft companies had already envisaged such a requirement; in 1959 Hawker Siddeley had advertised an "Airbus" version of the Armstrong Whitworth AW.660 Argosy, which would "be able to lift as many as 126 passengers on ultra short routes at a direct operating cost of 2d. per seat mile." However, European aircraft manufacturers were aware of the risks of such a development and began to accept, along with their governments, that collaboration was required to develop such an aircraft and to compete with the more powerful US manufacturers. At the 1965 Paris Air Show major European airlines informally discussed their requirements for a new "airbus" capable of transporting 100 or more passengers over short to medium distances at a low cost. The same year Hawker Siddeley (at the urging of the UK government) teamed with Breguet and Nord to study airbus designs. The Hawker Siddeley/Breguet/Nord groups HBN 100 became the basis for the continuation of the project. By 1966 the partners were Sud Aviation, later Aerospatiale (France), Arbeitsgemeinschaft Airbus, later Deutsche Airbus (Germany) and Hawker Siddeley (UK). A request for funding was made to the three governments in October 1966. On 25 July 1967 the three governments agreed to proceed with the proposal.

Airbus Industrie was formally established as a Groupement d'Interet Economique (Economic Interest Group or GIE) on 18 December 1970. It had been formed by a government initiative between France, Germany and the UK that originated in 1967. The name "Airbus" was taken from a non-proprietary term used by the airline industry in the 1960s to refer to a commercial aircraft of a certain size and range, for this term was acceptable to the French linguistically. Aerospatiale and Deutsche Airbus each took a 36.5% share of production work, Hawker Siddeley 20% and Fokker-VFW 7%. Each company would deliver its sections as fully equipped, ready-to-fly items. In October 1971 the Spanish company CASA acquired a 4.2% share of Airbus Industrie, with Aerospatiale and Deutsche Airbus reducing their stakes to 47.9%. In January 1979 British Aerospace, which had absorbed Hawker Siddeley in 1977, acquired a 20% share of Airbus Industrie. The majority shareholders reduced their shares to 37.9%, while CASA retained its 4.2%.

The Airbus A300 was to be the first aircraft to be developed, manufactured and marketed by Airbus. By early 1967 the "A300" label began to be applied to a proposed 320 seat, twin engined airliner. Following the 1967 tri-government agreement, Roger Béteille was appointed technical director of the A300 development project. Béteille developed a division of labour which would be the basis of Airbus' production for years to come: France would manufacture the cockpit, flight control and the lower centre section of the fuselage; Hawker Siddeley, whose Trident technology had impressed him, was to manufacture the wings; Germany should make the forward and rear fuselage sections, as well as the upper centre section; The Dutch would make the flaps and spoilers; finally Spain (yet to become a full partner) would make the horizontal tailplane. On 26 September 1967 the German, French and British governments signed a Memorandum of Understanding in London which allowed continued development studies. This also confirmed Sud Aviation as the "lead company", that France and the UK would each have a 37.5% workshare with Germany taking 25%, and that Rolls-Royce would manufacture the engines.

In the face of lukewarm support from airlines for a 300+ seat Airbus A300, the partners submitted the A250 proposal, later becoming the A300B, a 250 seat airliner powered by pre-existing engines. This dramatically reduced development costs, as the Rolls-Royce RB207 to be used in the A300 represented a large proportion of the costs. The RB207 had also suffered difficulties and delays, since Rolls-Royce was concentrating its efforts on the development of another jet engine, the RB211, for the Lockheed L-1011 and Rolls-Royce entering into administration due to bankruptcy in 1971. The A300B was smaller but lighter and more economical than its three-engined American rivals.

Logo of Airbus until September 2010

Air Algérie Airbus A330-200 landing in Montréal-Trudeau

The retention of production and engineering assets by the partner companies in effect made Airbus Industrie a sales and marketing company. This arrangement led to inefficiencies due to the inherent conflicts of interest that the four partner companies faced; they were both GIE shareholders of, and subcontractors to, the consortium. The companies collaborated on development of the Airbus range, but guarded the financial details of their own production activities and sought to maximise the transfer prices of their sub-assemblies. It was becoming clear that Airbus was no longer a temporary collaboration to produce a single plane as per its original mission statement, it had become a long term brand for the development of further aircraft. By the late 1980s work had begun on a pair of new medium-sized aircraft, the biggest to be produced at this point under the Airbus name, the Airbus A330 and the Airbus A340.

Airbus A330, a new aircraft introduced in 1994

In the early 1990s the then Airbus CEO Jean Pierson argued that the GIE should be abandoned and Airbus established as a conventional company. However, the difficulties of integrating and valuing the assets of four companies, as well as legal issues, delayed the initiative. In December 1998, when it was reported that British Aerospace and DASA were close to merging, Aérospatiale paralysed negotiations on the Airbus conversion; the French company feared the combined BAe/DASA, which would own 57.9% of Airbus, would dominate the company and it insisted on a 50/50 split. However, the issue was resolved in January 1999 when BAe abandoned talks with DASA in favour of merging with Marconi Electronic Systems to become BAE Systems. Then in 2000 three of the four partner companies (DaimlerChrysler Aerospace, successor to Deutsche Airbus; Aérospatiale-Matra, successor to Sud-Aviation; and CASA) merged to form EADS, simplifying the process. EADS now owned Airbus France, Airbus Deutschland and Airbus España, and thus 80% of Airbus Industrie. BAE Systems and EADS transferred their production assets to the new company, Airbus SAS, in return for shareholdings in that company.

In the summer of 1988 a group of Airbus engineers led by Jean Roeder began working in secret on the development of an ultra-high-capacity airliner (UHCA), both to complete its own range of products and to break the dominance that Boeing had enjoyed in this market segment since the early 1970s with its 747. The project was announced at the 1990 Farnborough Air Show, with the stated goal of 15% lower operating costs than the 747-400. Airbus organised four teams of designers, one from each of its partners (Aérospatiale, DaimlerChrysler Aerospace, British Aerospace, CASA) to propose new technologies for its future aircraft designs. In June 1994 Airbus began developing its own very large airliner, then designated as A3XX. Airbus considered several designs, including an odd side-by-side combination of two fuselages from the Airbus A340, which was Airbus’s largest jet at the time. Airbus refined its design, targeting a 15 to 20 percent reduction in operating costs over the existing Boeing 747-400. The A3XX design converged on a double-decker layout that provided more passenger volume than a traditional single-deck design.

Airbus A380, the largest passenger jet in the world, entered commercial service in 2007.

On 3 October 2006, CEO Christian Streiff announced that the reason for delay of the Airbus A380 was the use of incompatible software used to design the aircraft. Primarily, the Toulouse assembly plant used the latest version 5 of CATIA (made by Dassault), while the design centre at the Hamburg factory were using the older and incompatible version 4. The result was that the 530 km of cables wiring throughout the aircraft had to be completely redesigned. Although no orders had been cancelled, Airbus still had to pay millions in late-delivery penalties.

The first aircraft delivered was to Singapore Airlines on 15 October 2007 and entered service on 25 October 2007 with an inaugural flight between Singapore and Sydney. Two months later Singapore Airlines CEO Chew Choong Seng said that the A380 was performing better than both the airline and Airbus had anticipated, burning 20% less fuel per passenger than the airline's existing 747-400 fleet. Emirates was the second airline to take delivery of the A380 on 28 July 2008 and started flights between Dubai and New York on 1 August 2008. Qantas followed on 19 September 2008, starting flights between Melbourne and Los Angeles on 20 October 2008.

On 6 April 2006 plans were announced that BAE Systems was to sell its 20% share in Airbus, then "conservatively valued" at €3.5 billion (US$4.17 bn). Analysts suggested the move to make partnerships with U.S. firms more feasible, in both financial and political terms. BAE originally sought to agree on a price with EADS through an informal process. Due to lengthy negotiations and disagreements over price, BAE exercised its put option which saw investment bank Rothschild appointed to give an independent valuation.

Singapore Airlines A380 departs from London Heathrow Airport

In June 2006 Airbus was embroiled significant international controversy over its announcement of further delays in the delivery of its A380. Following the announcement the value of associated stock plunged by up to 25% in a matter of days, although it soon recovered afterwards. Allegations of insider trading on the part of Noël Forgeard, CEO of EADS, its majority corporate parent, promptly followed. The loss of associated value was of grave concern to BAE, press described a "furious row" between BAE and EADS, with BAE believing the announcement was designed to depress the value of its share. A French shareholder group filed a class action lawsuit against EADS for failing to inform investors of the financial implications of the A380 delays while airlines awaiting deliveries demanded compensation. As a result EADS chief Noël Forgeard and Airbus CEO Gustav Humbert announced their resignations on 2 July 2006.

On 2 July 2006 Rothschild valued BAE's stake at £1.9 billion (€2.75 billion), well below the expectation of BAE analysts and even EADS. On 5 July BAE appointed independent auditors to investigate how the value of its share of Airbus had fallen from the original estimates to the Rothschild valuation; however in September 2006 BAE agreed the sale of its stake in Airbus to EADS for £1.87 billion (€2.75 billion, $3.53 billion), pending BAE shareholder approval. On 4 October shareholders voted in favour of the sale, leaving Airbus entirely owned by EADS.

2007 restructuring

On 9 October 2006 Christian Streiff, Humbert's successor, resigned due to differences with parent company EADS over the amount of independence he would be granted in implementing his reorganisation plan for Airbus. He will be succeeded by EADS co-CEO Louis Gallois, bringing Airbus under more direct control of its parent company.

On 28 February 2007, CEO Louis Gallois announced the company's restructuring plans. Entitled Power8, the plan would see 10,000 jobs cut over four years; 4,300 in France, 3,700 in Germany, 1,600 in the UK and 400 in Spain. 5,000 of the 10,000 would be at sub contractors. Plants at Saint Nazaire, Varel and Laupheim face sell off or closure, while Meaulte, Nordenham and Filton are "open to investors". As of 16 September 2008 the Laupheim plant has been sold to a Thales-Diehl consortium to form Diehl Aerospace and the operations at Filton have been sold to GKN of the United Kingdom. The announcements have resulted in Airbus unions in France planning to strike, with German Airbus workers possibly following.

At the end of 2009, another bold project was launched. The Airbus Finance Improvement & Transformation (AFIT) initiative has been established as a platform to drive continuous improvement across Finance and beyond. During the AFIT Kick-Off Meeting, Harald Wilhelm, Airbus CFO, explained that this new challenging program will contribute to achieve the vision of a streamlined and harmonised Finance Function. To reach this objective AFIT will be focused on four improvement areas: Performance Management and Operational Reporting, Business Partnership and Anticipation, Accounting / Controlling Process and Tools, Airbus Military Roadmap.

The Airbus product line started with the A300, the world's first twin-aisle, twin-engined aircraft. A shorter, re-winged, re-engined variant of the A300 is known as the A310. Building on its success, Airbus launched the A320 with its innovative fly-by-wire control system. The A320 has been, and continues to be, a great commercial success. The A318 and A319 are shorter derivatives with some of the latter under construction for the corporate biz-jet market (Airbus Corporate Jet). A stretched version is known as the A321 and is proving competitive with later models of the Boeing 737.

The longer-range widebody products, the twin-jet A330 and the four-engine A340, have efficient wings, enhanced by winglets. The Airbus A340-500 has an operating range of 16 700 kilometres (9000 nautical miles), the second longest range of any commercial jet after the Boeing 777-200LR (range of 17 446 km or 9420 nautical miles). The company is particularly proud of its use of fly-by-wire technologies and the common cockpit systems in use throughout the aircraft family, which make it much easier to train crew.

Airbus is studying a replacement for the A320 series, tentatively dubbed NSR, for "New Short-Range aircraft". Those studies indicated a maximum fuel efficiency gain of 9-10% for the NSR. Airbus however opted to enhance the existing A320 design using new winglets and working on aerodynamical improvements. This "A320 Enhanced" should have a fuel efficiency improvement of around 4-5%, shifting the launch of a A320 replacement to 2017-2018.

In 24 September 2009 the COO Fabrice Bregier stated to Le Figaro that the company would need from €800million to €1billion over six years to develop the new aircraft generation and preserve the company technological lead from new competitors like C919, scheduled to operate by 2015-2020.

In July 2007, Airbus delivered its last A300 to FedEx, marking the end of the A300/A310 production line. Airbus intends to relocate Toulouse A320 final assembly activity to Hamburg, and A350/A380 production in the opposite direction as part of its Power8 organisation plan begun under ex-CEO Christian Streiff.

Airbus supplied replacement parts and service for Concorde until its retirement in 2003.