Airbus announced as expected that it would be delaying delivery of some Airbus 380s. The company intends now to deliver 12 planes in 2008 instead of 13, and 21 planes in 2009 instead of 25. The company also said that it was planning to talk with customers about deliveries for 2010 — originally foreseen at 45 — in the next few weeks.
Airbus CEO Tom Enders said the switch from individual production of the planes to serial production caused two to three months delayed.
As explained in more detail in a story in today's ATW (Air Transport World), "The principal reason for this fourth program delay is that the company was unable to transition key personnel and resources quickly from the 'Wave 1' aircraft (those assembled during 'low rate individual production' following the wiring redesign) to those constructed in the 'full serial design and manufacturing process' or Wave 2."
" 'To build one aircraft in two years is one thing, but to double that, then double it again [proved problematic],' Enders said, explaining that expert engineers and 'certain processes' were required longer than anticipated in Wave 1, resulting in a 'knock-on effect' that slowed Wave 2."
"The dearth of qualified technical staff was a critical factor. 'We had to learn it the hard way,' Enders said. 'There was no way we could recruit skilled resources in the quantity we needed' to ramp up production as planned. There was 'a lack of qualified people for very demanding jobs,' he noted."
Enders declined to say when Airbus will meet its plan of delivering four A380s per month, a goal the plane maker had hoped to meet in 2010. However, he did say that he is confident that the company will be able to deliver between 30 and 40 A380 aircraft in 2010.
Some airlines, like the Emirates (which is the biggest customer and has ordered 58 A380s) has said that it will be severely hurt by the delays. How much it will ask for in compensation is undetermined at this time.
