Airbus warns it could end A380 production if it fails to land new orders

Airbus has admitted unless it can find more buyers for the A380 superjumbo, the program will come to an end.

The planemaker is set to build 12 A380s this year and a further eight in 2019 to fulfil existing orders but Airbus says the minimum annual number it is prepared to build each year is six.

Emirates took delivery of their 100th A380 during 2017, they are the main customer for the plane which can take up 615 passengers on long-haul flights.

Speculation grew that Emirates was set to announce an order for up to 36 A380 jets at the Dubai Airshow last October, securing those jobs at the A380 wing assembly plant in Broughton.

The airline failed to sign as the planemaker couldn’t guarantee future production of it’s double-decked jet.

During a ‘2017 year-in-review’ webcast on Monday, Airbus sales chief John Leahy said negotiations for Emirates to buy more of the superjumbo were ongoing.

“We are still talking to Emirates and quite honestly they are probably the only one in the marketplace who can take a minimum of six A380s a year for a period of eight to 10 years,” he said.

“If we can’t work out a deal with Emirates I think there is no choice but to shut down the program,” Leahy added.

Airbus has increased the average list prices of its aircraft by two percent across the product line, effective from January 1st 2018. The new average list price for an A380 is $445.6 million.

China has been offered a production role on the A380 in a bid to secure the programme’s future, while there is no sign of a firm commitment in place its thought they could be handed some cosmetic work on any A380’s ordered by the Chinese.

Airbus says it will ‘continue its commercial aircraft leadership in 2018 and beyond – building on the company’s record 718 jetliner deliveries in 2017 and 1,109 net orders logged during the past year.’

“Airbus will continue to build on the strength of its people,” Fabrice Brégier, Chief Operating Officer of Airbus stated during Monday’s live webcast from company headquarters in Toulouse, France.

Airbus’ production ramp-up meets the company’s substantial backlog of jetliners to be delivered, which reached an industry record of 7,265 aircraft at the end of 2017.

He noted the production output for its best-selling A320 single-aisle jetliner family remains on track to reach 60 aircraft monthly by mid-2019, accompanied by the increase in widebody A350 XWB production to 10 per month by year-end 2018.

‘Output of the widebody A330 will remain stable at six aircraft per month, based on orders for the current A330ceo version and this year’s start-up of deliveries with the new A330neo variant; while 12 A380s are to be delivered in 2018 as planned.’ The company said.