EU-DIGEST

New airbus 380 makes a quiet statement - by Anthony Richardson

The destination was New York’s JFK airport and the passengers were excited because they were about to embark on a small piece of aviation history: the maiden voyage of Emirates’ headline-grabbing super-jumbo – the first of 58 ordered by the company – and the first commercial flight of the Airbus A380 into the Americas.Friday’s historic flight took 13 hours and 10 minutes and a slightly rough landing at JFK was marked by a round of applause from passengers. Tomorrow, the aircraft will be on show at San Francisco International Airport before heading to the Flight Path Museum in Los Angeles on Tuesday. With Friday’s flight, Emirates became the second commercial airline to fly the A380. The first was Singapore Airlines, which operates a fleet of five super-jumbos.

Labels: A380, Airbus, Aircraft Industry, Airline Industry, Emirates

Airbus to sell five A380s to Japan's ANA

Airbus is expected to sell five A380 superjumbo aircraft to All Nippon Airways Co (ANA), its first sale of the world's biggest passenger plane to a Japanese airline, the Nikkei business daily reported on Friday. A sale in Japan would be a big breakthrough for the European plane maker, a unit of European aerospace group EADS, as it has only about 4 percent of Japan's market, compared with a half share elsewhere.

Labels: A380, Aircraft Industry, EU, Japan

New delays loom for both Boeing Dreamliner and possibly the jumbo Airbus

Boeing has warned customers they face a 27-month delay in deliveries of its new Dreamliner jet, and Airbus has also told buyers of a fresh hitch in manufacturer of its jumbo A380, German news reports said Saturday. Boeing, was reported this week to have begun assembly of the fifth Dreamliner, a flight-test plane, with the project 15 months late. But the daily newspaper Die Welt said Saturday the US manufacturer was in deeper trouble than that with its B787 project. It said many airlines had been warned in a letter that deliveries planned after 2012 would be delayed as much as 27 months.

Approached for comment by Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, Airbus said the A380 program was being reviewed because a key stage in the jet's manufacture, using new software to manage the wiring work, had been reached. This meant that the 26th plane to be made, the first to be have all its wiring designed by computer, would roll out late, but this did not mean the 27th would be delayed, and later jets might even be ahead of schedule. It was vital to complete the 26th perfectly as a standard for the rest. Airbus spokesman Stefan Schaffrath said in Germany he was not aware of any letter to customers about this.

Labels: A380, Airbus, Aircraft Industry, Boeing Dreamliner 787

A380 superjumbo to make European debut in London

Airbus's A380, the world's biggest passenger plane which promises a new dimension of space and comfort for travellers, was due to land in London on Tuesday on its first commercial flight to Europe. The Singapore Airlines jet, as tall as a seven-storey building and with about 50 percent more cabin space than its rivals, was carrying 449 passengers enjoying increased legroom and state-of-the-art in-flight entertainment.

Airbus says that the A380 burns 17 percent less fuel per seat than other big airliners, adding that this will reduce the carbon footprint of each passenger. "This is the most significant step forward in reducing aircraft fuel burn and resultant emissions in four decades," it said in a statement on its website, which also described the plane as "a new generation of aircraft".

Labels: A380, Aircraft Industry, Airline Industry, EU

Korean Air to buy 3 more A380 jets from Airbus

Korean Air Co will purchase an additional three A380 superjumbo jets from Airbus on top of five jets it had earlier agreed to buy from the European aerospace firm, a company official said on Wednesday. The additional purchase by South Korea's largest carrier came through exercising an option contained in the original contract, the official added, but declined to give the value of the deal.

Labels: A380, Airbus, Aircraft Industry, EU