Emirates cancels Airbus A340-600 order

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Yada Yada

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reuters.com said:

Emirates cancels Airbus A340-600 order
By James Cordahi

DUBAI, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Emirates, the largest Arab airline, has cancelled an order for as many as 20 long-range Airbus A340-600 aircraft, ending a delay in the delivery of the aircraft pending enhancements.

"We will not be taking delivery of these planes," Emirates spokesman Mike Simon said late on Monday, declining to explain why.

Dubai-based Emirates ordered 12 of the four-engine planes and options for eight more in 2003 for delivery in May.

Emirates delayed the delivery in March after Airbus proposed making an enhanced version of the high-gross-weight variant of the plane. Emirates President Tim Clark said at the time the airline did not want take delivery of an aircraft that would overtaken by a better model.

<...snip...>

Emirates leased five Boeing Co. 777 planes for as long as 15 years and might lease another two to plug the gap in delivery of the A380s, Simon said.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

Full Story...
More trouble for Airbus. Although the BBC is reporting that "...an Airbus spokesman said it was not aware of any cancellation and its order book showed Emirates still earmarked to take delivery of 18 of the planes."
 
Yada Yada said:
...an Airbus spokesman said it was not aware of any cancellation and its order book showed Emirates still earmarked to take delivery of 18 of the planes."[/i]
Hmm, I thought their A380 order was for 45 aircraft plus options. If the EK order is only 18, that would now make QF the largest A380 customer with 20 orders.
 
NM said:
Hmm, I thought their A380 order was for 45 aircraft plus options. If the EK order is only 18, that would now make QF the largest A380 customer with 20 orders.
Nup, the article refers to A340-600 aircraft.
 
serfty said:
Nup, the article refers to A340-600 aircraft.
Ahh, so the 18 refers to them too. For some silly reason (senile moment again???) I switched part way through from A340 to A380.
 
"Dubai-based Emirates ordered 12 of the four-engine planes and options for eight more in 2003 for delivery in May."

I can't understand the article. May of what year? Surely the airframes must be built already. I guess someone will want them, perhaps DJ can get a sweet deal and snap them up for international ops.
 
maninblack said:
"Dubai-based Emirates ordered 12 of the four-engine planes and options for eight more in 2003 for delivery in May."

I can't understand the article. May of what year? Surely the airframes must be built already. I guess someone will want them, perhaps DJ can get a sweet deal and snap them up for international ops.
I think the next sentence explains the situation:
Emirates delayed the delivery in March after Airbus proposed making an enhanced version of the high-gross-weight variant of the plane.
So I read that as they were originally ordered in 2003 for delivery in May this year. But in March this year EK delayed the delivery for the reason stated.
 
NM said:
So I read that as they were originally ordered in 2003 for delivery in May this year. But in March this year EK delayed the delivery for the reason stated.
Surely there are not 12 340-600 in various stages of construction laying around?:confused:
If Airbus was dynamic enough they would have been able to change some of the frames, the latter ones of course, from A340 to A330. I thought another one of the Mid-East airlines (Qatar?) were going to pick them, A340-600 up. Maybe VS could use them or DJ(int) will get a good lease rate on them.
 
Altair said:
Surely there are not 12 340-600 in various stages of construction laying around?:confused:
If Airbus was dynamic enough they would have been able to change some of the frames, the latter ones of course, from A340 to A330. I thought another one of the Mid-East airlines (Qatar?) were going to pick them, A340-600 up. Maybe VS could use them or DJ(int) will get a good lease rate on them.
I assume all 12 were not due for delivery in the same year. But yes, you would expect that at least some of them were in various stages of completion. Perhaps there are other A340-600 customers who are glad of being bumped up the delivery book. I would think there is a significant penalty to be paid for such a cancellation. But these things are always more complex than they appear on the surface and perhaps it was all tied in with the A380 delay compensation package for EK?

But it does seem strange that on one hand EK would be complaining about the capacity problem the delayed A380 is causing them, and on the other hand they are cancelling orders for a significant number of large aircraft.
 
NM said:
I would think there is a significant penalty to be paid for such a cancellation.


After the A380 delay-fiasco, I imagine that the Airbus Execs would have smiled sweetly and said "no problem".
 
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Here is an interesting quote from Australian Aviation Magazine regarding this order cancellation:
Australian Aviation said:
The aircraft "didn't deliver what it set out to deliver in the blueprint," according to an Emirates spokesman quoted in AFX News. "It was far heavier than the original spec had been. That was part of it and other aircraft have come in its place that are far more economic."
 
Emirates President Tim Clark said at the time the airline did not want take delivery of an aircraft that would overtaken by a better model.

Sheikh Mohammed would have had Tim Clark's goolies if he had purchased anything other than best of breed.
 
not want take delivery of an aircraft that would overtaken by a better model.
Boeing 777, 777LR/ER or would they go for the 787-8/9?

I thought that the 777 was pitched at the 340, with the mooted 350XWB to be the answer to the 787 dominace on forward orders for aircraft in the 250-330 class? The 787-3 looks like it won't have the range that the 340 does, however the 787-8/9 does.
 
nm said:
I assume all 12 were not due for delivery in the same year. But yes, you would expect that at least some of them were in various stages of completion. Perhaps there are other A340-600 customers who are glad of being bumped up the delivery book. I would think there is a significant penalty to be paid for such a cancellation. But these things are always more complex than they appear on the surface and perhaps it was all tied in with the A380 delay compensation package for EK?[/.quote]

Hmmm there are not too many A340-600 orders that are outstanding. LH & VS are the bigger ones, and you would think that with delays to the A380 that they would want at least some extra capacity, but EK are going down the 777-300ER route which is a direct competitor to the A340-600.
Oh Airbus have not posted their October orders yet, but they are notorious for not putting concellations in, check out Iraqi Air 5 A310 order that is outstanding even though the aircraft, along with its bigger sister A300 are no longer produced.
http://www.airbus.com/odxml/orders_and_deliveries.xls

freqbugsmasher said:
Boeing 777, 777LR/ER or would they go for the 787-8/9?

I thought that the 777 was pitched at the 340, with the mooted 350XWB to be the answer to the 787 dominace on forward orders for aircraft in the 250-330 class? The 787-3 looks like it won't have the range that the 340 does, however the 787-8/9 does.

EK have repeatedly stated that they want a 787 bigger than the -9. Hence Boeing has been looking at the -10. The -3 is for domestic operations and gets a higher seat count because Boeing uses a different class mix. I seriously doubt that the -3 will be a big seller, like the SR and D series of the 747. 787 is pitched around as a 767, A300 size replacement. A350 is a bigger aircraft aimed at 777-200 replacements that Airbus needed to do as the technology to be used cannot compete against the 787 CASM, so more bums on seats (BOS) is the solution, like the A380.
 
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