European jetliner manufacturer Airbus assures that it is overcoming the production ramp-up problems that have plagued its double-decker A380 superjumbo programme. These problems have significantly delayed deliveries of the new aircraft to customers.

“A380 production ramp-up is under way,” affirms Airbus executive vice-president for programmes Tom Williams.

“The key message is that we have got through Wave One: the last of those aircraft will go out this year. We have had some problems, but these are now well under control. It is a very complex aircraft. We introduced a lot of complex and new ideas in the A380.”

(Airbus designates A380 production batches as Waves – Wave One, Wave Two, and so on.)

To date, 14 of the giant aircraft have been delivered to Singapore Airlines, Emirates Airlines, and to Qantas, while eight more are in various stages of cabin furnishing or airframe painting, done in Hamburg, Germany. Eleven further A380s are on the final assembly line in Toulouse, France.

Singapore Airlines now operates six A380s, Emirates Airlines five, and Qantas three, while this year will see two more customers, Air France and Lufthansa, take delivery of their first A380s.

Airbus reports that it is receiving very strong and very positive feedback from Singapore, Emirates and Qantas about the A380.

The superjumbo has already racked up more than 4 200 revenue-earning flights amounting to more than 41 000 revenue flight hours, carrying over 1,5-million passengers.

“It is well and truly in service and is doing very well,” states Airbus director for product marketing: A380 Richard Carcaillet.

“The airlines are doing a very good job operating the A380. The airlines put it into service on long-haul routes from day one. This shows their confidence in the design. A380 utilisation is very high indeed.”

Although the aircraft is being heavily used, its employment on long and very long haul routes means that the number of cycles (that is, take-off, climb, pressuri- sation, descent, depressurisation and landing cycles) it has completed is accumulating slowly.

The aircraft has already established itself as the most fuel efficient in the airline industry, with the lowest fuel consumption for each seat. It also has the lowest cash operating costs for each square metre of cabin.

Singapore Airlines has told Airbus that it would introduce the A380 on its Singapore–Paris route next month. Seven A380 flights a week would replace the current ten weekly flights using Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. This would increase the capacity on the route by 20%, yet reduce cash operating costs by 3% (assuming load factors of 80%). This would amount to more than $7,9-million in cost savings a year, while adding another 27 000 seats a year to the route.

Airbus analysis of International Air Transport Association data suggests that airlines operating the A380 are attracting passengers away from airlines that do not operate the aircraft.

Singapore Airlines has gone on record saying: “Passenger reaction has been overwhelmingly positive. Singapore Airlines has found that load factors on A380 services are consistently much higher than those on other services across the network. We are seeing evidence of customers demanding to fly the A380 and adjusting their travel itineraries to book on A380-operated flights.”

Emirates states that it has found the A380 to be “hugely popular”, with the economy class being “incredibly popular”, while Qantas reports that “customer reaction has been outstanding”.

“The entry into service went very well,” says Carcaillet. “We are pleased with it, the airlines are pleased with it. This is the result of a lot of hard work.”

“We do not want to relax and say it is looking pretty good,” cautions Williams. “We will have to achieve a higher standard (in support of the airlines) on the A380 than on our other programmes.”

After all, if a standard wide-body airliner were to go unserviceable, it might require the airline to put up 200 to 300 passengers in a hotel. If an A380 goes unserviceable, it could involve 500 passengers.

Interestingly, Air Austral, an operator based on the French Indian Ocean island territory of Reunion, signed a memoran- dum of understanding with Airbus in January, for two A380s in a single-class configuration, for its Reunion–Paris route. Air Austral intends to use the super- jumbos to improve the comfort of its passengers while reducing the fares they charge.

(Campbell attended the Airbus Innovation Days 2009 in Hamburg as a guest of the company.)

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