French investment bank Natixis told our newspaper that they expect Airbus to deliver 18 and 30 A380s in the next two years respectively. Considering that this year in Q1, after encountering the cancellation of 46 aircraft orders, Airbus and Boeing together only managed to secure four net new aircraft orders without any cancellations for the A380, which will be the key to maintaining Airbus' commercial confidence.
Bisignani responded to various media outlets, including ours, saying that the practice of merging flights using large aircraft has already appeared in some European airlines, and he believes this situation will continue.
This European company, ranked alongside Boeing as one of the world's top two commercial aircraft manufacturers, emphasized that in 2009, Airbus will continue to deliver A380 aircraft to Singapore Airlines, Emirates, and Qantas, while also delivering the first A380 to Air France. Moreover, Korean Air purchased two additional A380s at the beginning of 2009. "In this year and the next, the number of operational A380 aircraft will further increase."
However, the global civil aviation industry is deeply mired in difficulties, leading outsiders to doubt whether the A380 was introduced at an inappropriate time. "Regardless of whether it's a large aircraft or a small passenger plane, under the current situation of insufficient demand in the global civil aviation industry and high costs, there is a risk that airlines will request delayed payments," Li Xiaojin, Director of the Aviation Transport Economics Research Institute at the Civil Aviation University of China, said to our newspaper on April 27, "But from an economic benefits perspective, the A380 can only be profitable when flying long-haul routes."
The fact is that the A380 has become one of the most obvious "victims" of airline strategies to adjust capacity and prioritize cash flow. After announcing a loss of 4.8 billion yuan in 2008, Xie Bing, Secretary of the Board of Directors of China Southern Airlines, revealed on April 15 that delivery of 13 Boeing B787 Dreamliner aircraft and 5 Airbus A380s would be postponed until 2011, thereby saving $1 billion in aircraft purchase costs.
Previously, both Air France and Lufthansa had requested to delay payment for two A380s each, and Indian Kingfisher Airlines even requested to postpone the payment for their first batch of A380s by two years, from 2012 to 2014.
As the new flagship product competing with Boeing's B747 jumbo jet, the A380 is considered by Airbus as the solution to alleviate congestion in super-large city air transportation. "By the end of 2006, 77% of global long-haul routes were concentrated on lines between the world's 32 largest aviation hubs. Continuously growing market demand, increasingly strained infrastructure, stricter environmental protection requirements, price competition, and continuously improving passenger comfort have all increased the demand for large aircraft," Airbus stated.
Previously, Emirates reassigned two A380s originally scheduled to fly Dubai-New York routes to intermediate routes such as Dubai-Bangkok. Li Xiaojin believed this was just a temporary measure, "Better than leaving the expensive A380 idle."
"Regardless of the timing, low-energy consumption aircraft will always be welcomed. The financial crisis has made airlines more aware of the importance of efficient aircraft," Airbus China responded to our inquiry regarding whether the drop in oil prices has made the energy-saving but high-priced A380 less attractive to airlines.
The Economic Observer, Date: April 28, 2009
In response to a journalist's question about whether the A380 superjumbo jet might see its dusk before its dawn arrives, International Air Transport Association (IATA) Chairman and CEO Giovanni Bisignani pointed out that the practice of merging flights using large aircraft has already appeared in some European airlines.
"Considering the exceptionally weak current aviation demand, has the A380 superjumbo jet seen its dusk before its dawn?" During the teleconference held by the International Air Transport Association on March 24, a journalist asked the organization's chairman and CEO Giovanni Bisignani.
"Airbus fully understands the difficulties caused by the global financial crisis sweeping across the airline industry. Where circumstances allow, the company will consider requests from airlines to adjust aircraft delivery plans on a case-by-case basis to help them get through temporary difficulties." On April 27, Airbus China spokesperson told our newspaper that so far no customer has requested to cancel the A380 order. "Globally, there are 200 confirmed orders for the A380 from 16 airlines," www.huaway.cn reported.