February’s firm order from Emirates for 20 additional Airbus A380s, along with options for a further 16 aircraft, gives Airbus breathing room to market the superjumbo in China, the CEO of the European original equipment manufacturer has said.
In response to a question from Airfinance Journal at the annual financial results press conference in Toulouse, Tom Enders, Airbus chief executive, said: “The very positive development for the A380 is that we have now secured orders for a minimum production rate from 2020 onwards to six a year. Six a year is very low and we can do it with a reasonable level of efficiency, but it doesn’t mean we’re still making money on that.”
He adds that the losses accrued by the company producing the aircraft at six a year from 2020 would be “digestible”.
“That’s the minimum, that’s the rock bottom. That’s the way you need to think about it,” he adds. “On that, I’m pretty sure we’ll get additional orders, be it repeat orders from existing customers, where we have a couple of campaigns going, or from new customers from big markets.
“There’s one big market the A380 is clearly under-represented in and that’s in China. The Emirates order gives us time to work particularly with Chinese airlines and this aircraft is ideally suited for transporting increasing numbers of middle-class passengers in China to international markets.”
He adds that he is “pretty confident” about the future of the aircraft well into the 2020s and beyond 2025.
“This is what we have in firm orders right now at a minimum. We will build on that and our teams in the meantime will come up with additional proposals about how to increase the attractiveness and the efficiency of the A380. So don’t count it out yet, the A380 risk going forward is really minimal, but I see some significant upsides as we have now secured minimum production rates."
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