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Airbus commits to new A380
The boss of Airbus has ended months of speculation by confirming that the plane maker will build a new version of its superjumbo, the A380. (www.thesundaytimes.co.uk) More...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
Out of curiosity, has Airbus hit the break even mark for the A380 yet, in terms of aircraft ordered (or paid for)?
Once all the 747's are retired they will. BA currently runs the oldest 747 fleet. They have only just started phasing out their decrepit 737's some of which are at least 25 years in service.
Nope. 300 acft+/- should be near, but this puppy cost two boat loads to develop... A couple more Billion Euro over the next decade and they may not make money until total acft in the air approaches a thousand. Boeing is chuckling as they ponder wing upgrades for new 747s.
Last figures I saw in the early days of this mess was that they would at some point and make a profit on orders that were on the books. That is one reason they were so concerned about no orders for this sales year, in order to make some serious money. They will have to do a lot more that the 100 units that Emirates says they'll take for a new model but I would hate to know that I had 100 units riding just on Clark's say so, as flakey as he is.
Just betting on future sales, did Clarke put some skin in the game or do we just have a make work thing here to keep a production line open?
Didn't Clark commit to buying over 100 A380 Neos if Airbus decided to build it? At a unit price approaching half a billion dollars each, that's one heck of an incentive.
Yes but you have to think if one Airline is the only airline committed how do you know they wont say at the last minute that hey wait we don't want the aircraft. Also only 100 planes is going to put Airbus in the whole because they would have to sell around 500 just to make it worth there wild to upgrade the plane. Just like when you build a new plane all the money that goes into developing it and building it. It would take 700-800 planes in a order book just to make a profit. Is it really worth Airbuses time to lose more money to build a plane only one airline wants.
Well, in all probability, if Emirates does opt for 100, some of the others around the world will upgrade too, but as I said below, Emirates talks a lot and until some money goes down, i'd be worried.
Yeah he said that, but he talks a lot. They can do what they want as far as the upgrade but until Emirates or somebody put up some money, I don't think its a safe bet.