
Airbus A380: The Death Watch Begins - okket
http://www.forbes.com/sites/richardaboulafia/2016/06/06/airbus-a380-the-final-countdown/
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jerven
Well it is an nice editorial. I would be the first to admit that the A380 has
not sold as well as it could have but this is over the top. The reason the
A380neo is not a priority right now is the change in oil price. That changed
the re-engining for the A380 from a priority to a nice to have.

The 777-9X is a much smaller plane, big, but still 30% smaller. More routes
can sustain it and it can carry more cargo. However, the writer does not like
the A380 but is painting the picture bleaker than it is. The 777-9X is not
selling that well either, the 777-300er and 747-8 competition from Boeing are
selling even worse both with slowdowns in production. The 747-8 with major
write-offs in the last years and a bleak accounting picture. A380 is finally
adding money for airbus so would be an insane moment to stop selling them.
With 18 sold in the last few months it is finally doing ok for a change.
Emirates has cancelled large aircraft orders before and 777-9X is more exposed
to their changing minds than any other design. When ordering for 5-10 years in
advance predictions can be over optimistic and they can cancel with few risks
for themselves if Boeing makes any mistakes.

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Declanomous
This article gives me absolutely no perspective on the actual issue at hand.
Why are customers cancelling their A380 orders - am I to make the assumption
that these other airlines prefer the Boeing over the Airbus based on the
Emirates order?

I apologize if I'm missing some extremely obvious points in the article, but
this article appears to be about 80% editorializing and 20% substance. I'd
really like to know what is driving demand for airplanes, and why the A380 is
falling behind.

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youngtaff
I'd like to know if the cancellation rate of the A380 any different to that
other wide-bodies (are these really cancellations, or options that aren't
being taken up anyway)

A380 seems to cater for hub based carriers e.g. Emirates, or routes into
congested airports e.g. LHR -> SFO, whereas the Boeing's seem more point to
point based.

On our trip to Australia last year we saw plenty of A380's in Dubai and
Singapore

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stuff4ben
That's sad. My trip aboard an A380 from JFK to Dubai was one of the best
flight experiences I'd ever had (in coach). The 777 we took from there to
Thailand was not quite as nice, but still very enjoyable. Still boggles my
mind that a jet as large as the 380 can get airborne.

