Delivery of the second Emirates Airbus A380 has been delayed at least several weeks due to supplier issues with interior outfitting, delaying introduction of the first daily A380 service to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. According to sources in both Dubai and Hamburg, delivery has been delayed until October 20 "at the earliest."
The second 489-seat A380, MSN013, was intended for delivery in September for introduction on the airline's direct Dubai-New York (JFK) service on October 1. The aircraft was to replace a Boeing 777-300ER on the route to establish the first daily A380 service to the United States.
Neither Airbus nor Emirates denied the potential delivery delay.
"There may be a delay," says an US based Emirates spokesperson. "We are awaiting further details from Dubai."
Per company policy, Airbus declined to discuss delivery schedules of its aircraft, though the European airframer underscored it was still on track to have 12 A380s delivered before the close of 2008. Five A380s have been delivered this year.
Airbus revised its A380 delivery targets in May from 13 in 2008, citing a slow transition of staff from Wave 1 hand-wired aircraft to Wave 2 aircraft with production wiring.
Emirates' website still shows the A380 operating the 13 hour 45 minute route daily route beginning October 1. The route is currently operated by Emirate's first A380 (A6-EDA) with 491-seats and a Boeing 777-300ER configured with 354 or 358 seats. With the delay of entry into service of the second A380, Emirates will likely be required to boost capacity to compensate for the roughly 135-seat gap between the 777-300ER and the A380.
According to a source at the Dubai based airline, daily service is now potentially slated to commence on October 26, the same day as Qatar Airways, Emirates' regional competitor, is set to begin its daily non-stop JFK service from Doha using a 777-300ER.
Supplier issues of key items like seats, galleys and lavatories have impacted both Airbus and Boeing customers.
Flight reported in June that buyer-furnished-equipment had delayed Boeing 777 aircraft for both Emirates and Qatar Airways.
Airbus has been impacted as well with "roughly 8% of widebody deliveries" facing "some delay because of problems with equipment purchased directly from suppliers," the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month.
Airbus had anticipated delivering three A380s during the September, though with the delay, it appears that the first for QANTAS' and the sixth for Singapore Airlines will be the only September deliveries.
September will mark the first time Airbus delivers two A380s in the same month.
The aircraft in question first flew April 1 of this year in Toulouse and was transferred to Hamburg-Finkenwerder on April 4 where it has remained for painting, rewiring and outfitting of its custom interior, including two shower spas.
This story is part of a FlightBlogger comprehensive Airbus A380 update covering the remaining deliveries for 2008. Image courtesy of David Barrie.
on August 27, 2008 7:53 PM | Reply
Jon
Thanks for your fantastic articles. I try to log on everyday to see what is new to read. :-)
Just a small comment about this article, about the second Emirates A380 delay.
You mention that September will see 2 deliveries - first Qantas and fifth Singapore.
Is it not the SIXTH Singapore A380? 9V-SXF?
Thanks again for your great work!
Terry
on August 28, 2008 12:29 AM | Reply
I've heard about the delays in finish parts for both the big manufacturers, but I can't see this as a complete explanation. The last thing any company will acknowledge is mismanagement; the inability to put competent managers into position and then backing them. It's been a long time since the A380 pile-up. Why is the forward fuselage section still the primary bottleneck? Is it just suppliers? Isn't that the beginning, middle, and end explanation to reassure shareholders and maintain presence? Yes, I am oversimplifying, but this is getting a little old. Out-
sourcing is the ultimate management smokescreen. Who did the outsourcing and why? Why haven't they (the subs
or partners) been brought to heel? Does Marketing run the company?
on August 28, 2008 5:46 PM | Reply
The airframe is two years late. The ramp up is not so steep. There is already one UAE's A380 delivered.
There is something fundamentally flawed in the explanation.
on August 28, 2008 11:44 PM | Reply
To JE.
You don't understand what BFE is.
BFE stands for Buyer Furnished Equipment. Typically galleys, seats, lavatories are BFEs. The airline customers choose the suppliers for BFE and directly contract with them. They are delivered to manufacturers (Airbus and Boeing) for installation. If BFE is late, that is not manufacturer's fault so they don't pay penalty for delayed delivery of the airplane.
Sell GmbH is a German company who over-promised and could not deliver the equipment in time. Boeing warned airlines of the risk but they could not force airlines to switch suppliers.
on August 29, 2008 1:18 AM | Reply
Yaz
Yeah, feeling a bit cranky. I know there are customer and supplier issues, etc. But consider my broader point. Is this the trend? Large civil programs being run like military entitlements; overpromise, endless delays, overruns? You can go bankrupt doing this in the private sector. It will be interesting to see the evolution of the A350; does Airbus really get out in front of the problems and drive the program through. Oversight is a vital management function made more critical by the increasingly global approach. To see both companies really staggering tells me there are deeper problems that begin with management/labor relations and extend to just being spread too thin.