Emirates Interest In A380Plus Offers Airbus A Breather

Dubai Air Show  might well decide whether Airbus will close shop on the A380 and shelve the 380 Plus programme  as the sales graph literally sinks to zero

- Bikram Vohra

IN TOULOUSE BLAGNAC IT isn’t yet time for uncorking the champagne but Airbus must be heaving a temporary sigh of relief after Emirates reportedly confirmed its interest in the A380plus. No deadline for any announcement has been made though and none is likely till the airshow come November and maybe not even then.

As it’s staggeringly beautiful predecessor the A380 suffers from a lack of love passing its tenth year of service, the reinvention of this big boy depends largely on one airline.

That is a very unusual equation in commercial aviation where there may be a favoured customer or a jumpstarter like what Singapore was for the Triple 7s with a 77 aircraft deal in 1995 making it the largest single wide-body deal ever but never a single carrier making the difference between stay or go.

The 380 scenario is not good. With no sales this past year the assembly line in Toulouse is tres desole.

With a fleet of 96 A380 aircraft and options on another 45 on order Emirates has the single largest order and is now holding the key to the future of this giant. Not that it wishes to but that’s the way the cookie has crumpled. Almost half the sales over the decade of 319 aircraft have been to Emirates. But there has been a slowing down and having deferred delivery of 16 planes it only placed an order for two aircraft at le Bourget.

If it has been unhappy it is not without cause. For one, the A380 is a relative gas guzzler and with Emirates having a 25 per cent fuel cost of its total running outgoings this is hurting.