Airbus confirmed Thursday that it has entered talks of an unspecified nature with Emirates Airline regarding the carrier’s future A380 deliveries. The Dubai-based carrier now flies 110 of the airplanes—most powered by Engine Alliance GP7000 turbofans--and holds outstanding delivery positions on firm orders for another 52 airplanes, most to carry Rolls-Royce Trent 900s. Its most recent contract involving the superjumbos, signed in February 2018, included a firm order for 20 Rolls-Royce-powered airplanes and options on another 16.
However, Bloomberg reported Thursday that Airbus and Emirates have begun talks over the possibility of converting some or all of the 20 on firm order to positions on A350s, again raising the specter of a premature closure of the A380 production line. After delivering 15 of the airplanes in 2017, Airbus cut the A380’s production rate to 12 last year. It planned to lower the rate to eight this year, then stabilize to six a year starting in 2020. Emirates itself took delivery of half of Airbus’s output last year and planned to accept another six this year.
During a January 2018 briefing to discuss the previous year’s orders and deliveries, former Airbus Commercial Aircraft COO for customers John Leahy warned that a lack of orders threatened to close the A380 line in the near future. He noted that Airbus had engaged in talks with “a few key airlines” to support an aim to eventually return to producing 25 A380s a year, but he also characterized Emirates as “probably the only one in the market that has the capacity to take six to eight aircraft [a year] over several years.”
Since then Airbus has failed to sign an order for a single A380 apart from the deal with Emirates, which over the past year has negotiated unsuccessfully with engine maker Rolls-Royce for price concessions and performance improvements.
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