A380 officially cancelled.

jasper100 · 13-02-2019 5:41pm #1

Could be all over tomorrow.

https://simpleflying.com/airbus-a380-production-end/

billie1b · 13-02-2019 6:35pm

No loss really

ED E · 13-02-2019 6:43pm

Point to point services are great for customers. Quiet planes too. Win win.

tipp_tipp_tipp · 13-02-2019 10:54pm

Used to work at Airbus. Left about 2 years ago. Last piece of work I did was on the A380 plus. Was a lot of optimism that Emirates would save the day with a large order, that would a least keep the program ticking over for some years to come. Sad to see it come to an end if this does indeed come to pass tomorrow.

Noxegon · 13-02-2019 11:22pm

billie1b wrote: »

No loss really

Disagree. As a passenger who frequently does high volume trunk routes, I love the A380. I'll be sorry to see it go (though I guess Emirates will get another decade out of the ones they have).

killbillvol2 · 13-02-2019 11:31pm

billie1b wrote: »

No loss really

You've obviously never flown on one.

billie1b · 14-02-2019 12:00am

killbillvol2 wrote: »

You've obviously never flown on one.

No not one but 3 and I genuinely hate them, just my opinion though

beauf · 14-02-2019 12:14am

billie1b wrote: »

No not one but 3 and I genuinely hate them, just my opinion though

Why?

dastardly00 · 14-02-2019 12:26am

I flew once in economy (DXB to CHC) and once in business class (AUK to DXB) with Emirates. The A380 was amazing

Brennus335 · 14-02-2019 6:20am

Now confirmed by Airbus. Last A380 will be delivered in 2021.

Emirates cancels 39 orders, replaces with 40 A330neo's & 30 A350's.

https://www.airbus.com/newsroom/press-releases/en/2019/02/airbus-and-emirates-reach-agreement-on-a380-fleet--sign-new-widebody-orders.html

irishrover99 · 14-02-2019 9:46am

Really disappointing news.
Best airplane ever to fly on as a passenger and pisses all over the 747, at least in my opinion.

sk8board · 14-02-2019 9:57am

I remember reading when it was launched that it was a massive gamble and the first time airbus and Boeing differed completely on the future of passenger travel.
Airbus backed the ‘hub and spokes’, with the world flying in smaller planes to a major hub airport and then get a massive plane to another hub airport and on to their destination.
Meanwhile Boeing figured the world would use medium sized Dreamliner planes and fly direct from any airport, and just upgrade the 747 and 777 to suit the bigger needs.

The airport infrastructure requirement is a big killer of the a380 too. A shame all the same.

My first time was going business on a brand new Air France one Paris to Singapore soon after they started deliveries. Amazing experience at the time.

The future is a bright world of a350’s and 787’s.

14-02-2019 10:01am

Aw man. I only got to fly on an A380 once from Sydney to Auckland. Despite sitting in economy, and having two heavy set men sitting next to me, I've never felt so comfortable on a flight.
Hopefully I'll still get to travel on one again in the future.

irishrover99 · 14-02-2019 10:02am

sk8board wrote: »

I remember reading when it was launched that it was a massive gamble and the first time airbus and Boeing differed completely on the future of passenger travel.
Airbus backed the ‘hub and spokes’, with the world flying in smaller planes to a major hub airport and then get a massive plane to another hub airport and on to their destination.
Meanwhile Boeing figured the world would use medium sized Dreamliner planes and fly direct from any airport, and just upgrade the 747 and 777 to suit the bigger needs.

The airport infrastructure requirement is a big killer of the a380 too. A shame all the same.

My first time was going business on a brand new Air France one Paris to Singapore soon after they started deliveries. Amazing experience at the time.

The future is a bright world of a350’s and 787’s.

Yes, but boring, kinda like Formula E

Wanderer78 · 14-02-2019 10:03am

Deleted User wrote:

Aw man. I only got to fly on an A380 once from Sydney to Auckland. Despite sitting in economy, and having two heavy set men sitting next to me, I've never felt so comfortable on a flight. Hopefully I'll still get to travel on one again in the future.

I'd imagine it ll still be in service for some time yet

14-02-2019 10:35am

its a shame, but I can't help thinking that this was more of a vanity project for Airbus than anything else.

sailing · 14-02-2019 11:12am

I was in Toulouse a couple of years ago collecting a new aircraft from Airbus at their delivery centre. Having spend a few days there a manager told me at the time that 2019 looked like the end of the road for the 380. In his words he said they predicted to just break even by then on the project, which I think was more than just a little white lie and production would stop.
Emirates were their only real major customer and they were starting to twitch about it in a new era of more efficient two engine aircraft with huge ETOPS certification.
Long haul future is the 350/330 Neo for airbus.
Personally never liked the look of it, never matched up to the 747, which itself is also on it’s lap for passenger ops. The days of 4 engines for long haul are unfortunately coming to an end. Too costly.

Nijmegen · 14-02-2019 11:14am

Last one will be produced 2021, so you'll be flying them a while yet. Qatar have said they'll get rid of theirs once they're 10 years old. I wonder if there'll be a secondary market for them that we don't see yet, ala the new lease of life the 757 got after its retirement from production. Maybe someone will figure out how to stick a giant cargo door on one of them or something.

GBX · 14-02-2019 11:29am

I haven't flown one yet but hopefully will before they take them out of service. I love the look of them. Shame production is being stopped.

Gael23 · 14-02-2019 1:05pm

Haven’t had the chance to travel on one. Was hoping to but Emirates fares for this year are way over the top.
End of a chapter in Aviation nonetheless

kilburn · 14-02-2019 1:21pm

I imagine the second hand market would be limited enough considering tbe costs involved with a new fit out

sk8board · 14-02-2019 1:28pm

kilburn wrote: »

I imagine the second hand market would be limited enough considering tbe costs involved with a new fit out

Considering one was already scrapped for parts, I’d say the secondary market will either require MASSIVE depreciation, or else will just be a parts market.

No airport will build the infastructure this late in the game, so It would mean the market is limited to secondary airlines at an existing compatible airport.
That’s a pretty short list

IngazZagni · 14-02-2019 1:37pm

It has been a long time coming. I can only imagine that the losses Airbus have incurred on the A380 have been collosol. Emirates are probably getting their remaining A380s at cost price or less just to keep the factories ticking over.

It also shows that Dublin Airport were absolutely correct to not invest huge sums of money on trying to accommodate this aircraft. Only the spotters wanted that.

It is a nice plane to fly on as a passenger though, I'll give it that.

sk8board · 14-02-2019 2:21pm

I still remember seeing the takeoff from the tail camera and thinking it was the best thing ever fitted to anything in the history of the world, ever

Van.Bosch · 14-02-2019 2:35pm

kilburn wrote: »

I imagine the second hand market would be limited enough considering tbe costs involved with a new fit out

And the limited number of airports that can handle them.

tototoe · 14-02-2019 2:43pm

Never flew in one, but so impressive as a piece of engineering when i saw it in Shannon.

arubex · 14-02-2019 4:49pm

sk8board wrote: »

Meanwhile Boeing figured the world would use medium sized Dreamliner planes and fly direct from any airport, and just upgrade the 747 and 777 to suit the bigger needs.

Yes, but Boeing was wrong too. Point-to-point between secondary airports is still rare and the 787 didn't change that. The vast majority of them replaced 767s and some older 777s on trunk runs from hubs like New York / Chicago / Heathrow / Schiphol / Dublin etc. It's amusing & disappointing to look at FR24 and see a line of 787s behind A380s on final to some mega-airport.

The day I can board a 787 in Belfast and fly to Macau is the day they win that prediction.

Mebuntu · 14-02-2019 4:57pm

Aegir wrote: »

its a shame, but I can't help thinking that this was more of a vanity project for Airbus than anything else.

Yes...and more than a mite of arrogance to boot.

Lorddrakul · 14-02-2019 5:01pm

Never been aboard one, but have always admired the engineering and the direction.

Can't help but feel it is something of a regression.

Not on the order of magnitude of the loss of Concorde from active duty, but still.

I would tend to agree that the writing is simply on the wall for 4 spoolers, but it feels like a loss nonetheless.

CiboC · 14-02-2019 5:45pm

I only flew on it once, from Dubai to Tokyo with Eremites.

12 hour flight in business class, I didn't want to get off at the end - my hotel room in Tokyo was smaller than my 'cabin' on the 380....!

I'll miss it...

Nijmegen · 14-02-2019 5:58pm

In pax config there are currently 425 x 777's on order and 1,258 in service and 700 x 787's on order and 445 in service. 773 x A350 on order and 36 in service, and 327 x A330 on order and 1,183 in service. 1,100 Airbus orders to 1,125 Boeing between the 4 twin types; and 1,703 Boeing in service to 1,219 Airbus. It actually looks pretty evenly matched on orders.

195 x A380 in service and now a much reduced order book. 32 x 747-8I in service and 9 on order. Quads are dead forever for pax, and even in the freight market (where there'll always be a volume capacity requirement) there's only been 67 x 747-8F deliveries and 8 orders on the books.

A380 officially cancelled.

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