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Willy Walsh speaks to Airfinance Journal about A380
01 July 2009
The chief executive of British Airways says a rise in the price of oil will favour the early introduction of the A380.
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Willy Walsh
British Airways
A380
oil
Willie Walsh, chief executive of British Airways, said today that the price of oil continued to be a factor in any possible early introduction of A380s into service.
“As soon as the price of oil rises above $60 a barrel, then the economics start to favour flying an A380 as opposed to two 747s.,” he told Airfinance Journal.
“For the moment, however, we’ve got no definite plans to introduce A380s before 2012 because of the pre-delivery expenditures involved. However, the situation could change dramatically if oil started to climb up towards last year’s high of $147 a barrel.”
Walsh said British Airways had, like most of the industry, largely misread the early signs of the credit crunch. “But the collapse of Lehman Brothers last September changed all that. And it was immediately after this that we reviewed the merits of introducing A380s.”
Mike Halls