French aircraft manufacturer Airbus has been called on by its biggest customer, Emirates, to fit its four-engine A380 superjumbo with new Rolls Royce motors to boost poor sales. Emirates Airline has said it will buy 60 to 80 A380 aircrafts if the planes are revamped to include fuel-efficient engines, weight reductions and improved aerodynamics.
President of Emirates Airline Tim Clarke said his company was willing to purchase additional aircraft on top of the 140 that have already been acquired from Airbus. The fast-growing Gulf carrier has publicly called on Airbus to start work on the new planes in order for them to ready for service in six years time.
Known in the industry as the A380 Neo, Airbus is yet to commit to manufacturing the new plane, despite Emirates saying it will buy them. Instead, Airbus will assess the reengineering of the A380 to ascertain if it is possible to have the aircraft ready sometime in the 2020s.
Clarke has stressed that Airbus should treat the matter with urgency
Clarke has stressed that Airbus should treat the matter with urgency and talk to other airlines soon to find out if there is suitable demand for the revamped carrier. In an interview with the FT, the Emirates president said:“Airbus need to get on with the job and say ‘this is how [an A380 Neo] will look and this is what [the aircraft] will do and this is the price we will charge in 2020’ and go out and test the market.”
Airbus does not agree. Chief Executive Fabrice Brégier has stressed there is “no urgency” to drop its current plans and press ahead with manufacturing the untested airbus. The French company, which posted profits of €21.1bn in May, said its main priority is to continue growing the sales of the existing superjumbo, dubbed the new “Queen of the Skies”.
The A380 can carry 500 passengers, making it the largest airborne people carrier in the world. The catalogue price for one is $414m, so the purchase of 80 would cost Emirates billions. With Emirates and Airbus at loggerheads, however, it looks unlikely that sale will happen before 2020.
