On Tuesday January 18th, Airbus will begin 2005 with the unveiling of its Airbus A380 superjumbo aircraft, which will help to reinforce its dominace over Boeing, the American commercial aircraft manufacturer.
2004 was another landmark year for Airbus, a year in which the manufacturer once more maintained its position as Number one, both in terms of orders and deliveries.
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| Designed in close collaboration with major airlines, airports and airworthiness authorities, the 555-seat A380 is the most advanced, spacious and efficient airliner ever conceived. Launched in December 2000, the A380 will enter airline passenger service in 2006. |
With 320 aircraft delivered, Airbus exceeded expectations at the beginning of the year when it had indicated that the 2004 deliveries would be “at best” as high as in 2003, when it delivered 305 aircraft. The 320 deliveries also make up some 53 per cent of all deliveries of aircraft above 100 seats, and lead to a turnover of slightly over €20 billion. Deliveries included 233 A320 Family aircraft, 37 A300-600 Freighters and A330-200s, and 50 A330-300s and A340s.
In terms of orders, Airbus also maintained its lead, with 370 new firm orders valued at US$34 billion, and representing 57 percent of the market in terms of units. Over the year Airbus registered only four cancellations, which do not impact the market share. These results compare to 284 new firm gross orders in 2003.
Airbus forecasts that 16,600 new passenger aircraft of more than 100 seats will be needed in the coming 20-year period, creating an average 830 deliveries per year.
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| The A380 will allow airlines a really competitive advantage in passenger comfort. The main deck of the A380 is the widest in the world. Its floor area has 49% more floor space and 35% more seats than the 747-400. So airlines can make their seats wider and provide each seat with its own separate armrest; a frequent passenger demand. The A380 also gives airlines a lower deck on which lavatories, sleeper cabins, crew rest-areas, business centres -- or even a crèche -- can be placed, so there is yet more space for more passenger amenities or seats, to make the aircraft more comfortable and so more attractive to passengers in economy, club or first class |
The revolutionary Airbus A380 is a serious challenge to the Boeing 747 because of its sheer size.
The double-decker aircraft can seat up to 550 passengers - one-third more than a jumbo - and has lower fuel burn, longer range, less noise and lower emissions than the current model 747.
Some 14 airlines have ordered 149 of the giant A380 jets, choosing size over the super-efficient 7E7 Dreamliner Boeing is designing, but won't be ready to deliver until at least 2007. The Boeing 7E7, will carry about 250 passengers
When Airbus started planning the A380, Boeing fumbled with a superjumbo plan but then scrapped the idea. Boeing has delivered 1,353 747s and has forecast a market of 400 for the superjumbo. Airbus chief Noel Forgeard has said he expects 35 annual deliveries of the A380 from 2008, with a total of 700 planes manufactured over the model's 40-year life cycle, worth almost $300 billion in sales.
According to Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group in the magazine Aerospace America, in their first decade of production, 747s made up an average of one-third of the market by value. The introduction of smaller widebodies with fewer engines has progressively reduced this figure, to 15-20% in the 1990s and currently to less than 10%. Present production is around one-and-a-half per month or less. Again, the answer might be route fragmentation. Looking at the transatlantic market, US Dept. of Transportation statistics clearly show a trend away from 747s. In 1990, 747s made 57,871 transatlantic departures. This declined to 54,412 747 departures in 2000. In the same period, medium widebodies, such as the A340, 777, or MD-11, increased by 250%, from 39,061 departures in 1990 to 95,987 departures in 2000. And small widebodies, such as 767s and A330-200s, increased from 33,502 to 81,368 departures. In short, large aircraft usage for transatlantic departures is drying up, and with it the 747/A380 market, according to Aboulafia.
Time will tell which manufacturer has made a strategic mistake.
European leaders including UK PM Tony Blair and French President Jacques Chirac are expected to officially launch the A380 off the assembly line at Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, France
Singapore Airlines, which will be first to offer the super jumbo, has already said its model will have less than 500 seats to ensure "the highest quality flying experience".
The development cost is estimated to be €11.5bn. The list price of the Airbus A380 US€280m (compared with $198 million to $227 million for the 747-400), Chairman Noel Forgeard announced last May but he acknowledged that few airlines would pay the list price. Early orders from carriers will have the biggest discounts, said industry watchers.
As the A380's have a much longer wingspan, airports will have to make adjustments to accommodate it.
The A380 plane has a wingspan of 80 meters (262 feet), almost the length of a football field. It's 73 meters long and weighs as much as 569 tons (1.2 million pounds) when fully loaded for takeoff. It will have a range of 8,000 nautical miles (14,820 kilometers) compared with 7,600 nautical miles for the Boeing 747-400.
Airbus claims that A380 will be 15 percent less expensive to operate than Boeing's 747.
Bloomberg News quotes Chris Avery, a JPMorgan analyst, in a Jan. 11th report to investors: ``The aircraft should be a 'game changer' in the long-haul market. Increasing congestion at major airports, such as London Heathrow, and an ever-greater focus on costs, means that the A380 will deliver valuable benefits to its operators.''
According to Avery, the 747, with 413 seats, needs 290 passengers to break even. The A380, with 555 seats, needs 323 people to break even, meaning it has another 227 seats available to sell at a profit--85 percent more than the 747-400.
