Enders: Strong interest in A380 from airlines but program costly

[NM]

From ATW Daily News:

Airbus CEO Tom Enders told a group of journalists including ATWOnline in Hamburg this week that the company expects to deliver 20 A380s while securing orders for "more than 20" this year, including "additional orders from existing customers."

I wonder how many years it took Boeing to recoup its investment in the 747 development? Obviously a lot has changed in the years between original 747 and A380 programs, and Boeing originally designed the 747 as a military transport, but I expect EADS knew it was going to take a long time to make a profit from the A380 and will not be overly surprised with the current situation.

 

[JohnK]

Are the orders for the A380 up to expectation taking into consideration the effects of the Global Finanial Crisis?

 

[NM]

Are the orders for the A380 up to expectation taking into consideration the effects of the Global Finanial Crisis?

With the additional costs incurred by the program, they are still about 50 orders short of the break-even point. To my knowledge, new orders have been very slow in the last 12 months, which was probably not consistent with EADS expectations before the scope of the proverbial GFC was understood.

 

[markis10]

Actual firm orders stood at 198 for 2008, 202 for 2009 and still is 202 for 2010, so there has been very little growth, in fact we are about to hit a year since the last order was placed.

 

[NM]

Actual firm orders stood at 198 for 2008, 202 for 2009 and still is 202 for 2010, so there has been very little growth, in fact we are about to hit a year since the last order was placed.

And I believe they are now looking at 250 as being the break-even point.

 

[Mal]

While there may be issues with recouping development costs from planes sold, surely the research taken assists with designing and building future planes - hence there is a level of payback there.

I'm sure the A380 has a long service life, and more orders will be taken. Probably not in the next few months though!