Airbus: May 2008 Archives

This post was intended to be my final post from France, however battery life and flight departure times got the best of me. After the A380 Production Update I posted two weeks ago, I wanted to provide an inside look at the Final Assembly Line (FAL) of the world's largest commercial passenger aircraft.


Approaching the massive building at the north end of Blagnac airport, what becomes immediately apparent is the shear scale of the venture being undertaken. I couldn't help but feel like something big lives here...and it does.

Walking through an unassuming door into the cavernous facility, my attention was immediately drawn to the nose fuselage section of MSN025 an Emirates A380 destined for delivery in 2009. It arrived in Toulouse on April 23 and was waiting patiently in front of the body join tooling that was surrounding MSN034 (Singapore Airlines), which, at the time, was receiving its wings.

The parts for MSN034 had arrived in the same convoy in late April as well. The aircraft has had its horizontal stabilizer installed and was awaiting its pylons, winglets or vertical tail to be joined.

Off to the left of the nose was MSN025's aft fuselage surrounded by scaffolding undergoing pre-integration. It was positioned in front of the port wing of MSN019, another A380 for Singapore Airlines which, according to Airbus, was undergoing rewiring in preparation for its move outside to the flight line.

CONTINUED BELOW

Toulouse -- Airbus has announced a partnership with JetBlue, IAE and Honeywell to test the 2nd generation of biofuels.

The joint activity will help develop renewable energy technology to convert vegetation and algae-based oils into aviation fuels.

The goal is to examine the benefits of jet fuels that are made from renewable biomass sources that do not compete with existing food or water resources.

Beyond the initial environmental benefits of reduced carbon footprint and reduced emissions, the examination of 2nd generation biofuels will also investigate the potential for payload-range aircraft performance, reduction in fuel burn and increased engine reliability and durability.

"Airbus believes that 2nd generation bio-jet could provide up to 30 percent of all commercial aviation jet fuel by 2030," said Sebastien Remy, head of Alternative Fuels Research Programs for Airbus.

JetBlue's fleet of Airbus A320 are entirely powered by IAE V2500 engines.

Filed on location at the Airbus Technical Press Briefing

Toulouse -- Airbus announced it intended to test an electric taxi system for A320 family aircraft.

The system, which would see electrical motors installed in the wheels, would power the narrowbody aircraft to the take off area to significantly reduce the amount of fuel burned during the taxi phase of the flight.

"We are always looking to save as much fuel as possible," said A320 Family Program Executive Vice President Alain Flourens.

UPDATE: During the initial tests, which are slated to take place before year's end, the motors will be powered by the auxiliary power unit in the tail of the aircraft. Flourens added that any increase in weight due to the addition of the motors on the aircraft landing gear would be offset by the expected overall fuel savings of the system.

Posted on location at the Airbus Technical Press Briefing

Just broke on the Air Transport Intelligence News Wire:

Airbus confirms new A380 delays
Nicholas Ionides, - (13 May 08 13:43 GMT)

Airbus has confirmed a new round of delays to the A380 programme
that will affect deliveries at least this year and next year.

The manufacturer says in a statement that it has "completed
the A380 programme review and is now informing customers about
changes to its delivery schedule".

It says it now plans for 12 deliveries this year, rather than
13 as previously expected, and 21 next year, instead of 25.

"Details about the new plan and the further ramp-up and
delivery slots in 2010 and the following years will be discussed
with customers in the coming weeks," it adds.

"The results of this review do not, at this stage, cover the
financial impact. The extent of the additional costs will be
influenced by the actual production and delivery scenario.
This will follow discussions with the customers and a more
precise evaluation of the implications of the new delivery
schedule for 2010 deliveries and beyond."

CONTINUED

An American in Paris Edition

This long overdue update covers the last two months of A380 production. The update covers a lot of ground including two deliveries, many new first flights and several new convoys of structural sections in Toulouse. As always, these updates depend on input and information from you. If I've missed anything here or anything incorrect here please let me know.

The A380 production has a large question mark hanging over it currently as the delivery schedule for 2009 is being reviewed by Airbus. Once this new schedule is announced, it will provide a good guide for watching the production process unfold.

The A380 production updates have been more infrequent with the quickening pace of production, as well as the large volume of information to manage. Between updates, which should be monthly now (or close to), the wikipedia user generated production list is a good interim resource, though should never be taken as 100% fact, just a good framework to work from.

Image Credit David Barrie

DELIVERIES

MSN006 - Singapore Airlines - 9V-SKC
9V-SKC was delivered to SIA on March 11, 2008. The 3rd A380 delivered allowed Singapore AIrlines to begin its second service from Singapore to London.

MSN008 - Singapore Airlines - 9V-SKD
Airbus delivered its 4th A380 on April 26, 2008. 9V-SKD will be used between Tokyo and Singapore later this month.

FLIGHT TESTING

MSN011 - Emirates - D-AXAA - A6-EDA
Emirates first A380 was unveiled in full colors on April 3, 2008. The registration was changed from French F-WWSH to German D-AXAA while in Hamburg for interior fitting. The aircraft will be delivered with 489 seats on board.

MSN012 - Singapore Airlines - F-WWSI - 9V-SKF
SIA's 6th A380 flew for the first time on February 20, 2008. It departed TLS for XFW on February 22, 2008.

MSN013 - Emirates - F-WWSJ - A6-EDB
F-WWSJ, the 2nd A380 for Emirates, conducted its first taxi tests on March 31, 2008, followed by its first flight April 2 and ferry flight to XFW on April 4. Spotters remarked that it was the first time an A380 had completed its first engine run, rejected take off test, first flight and ferry flight all in a Monday-Friday span.

MSN014 - QANTAS - F-WWSK - VH-OQA
The first QANTAS A380 has completed cabin outfitting and will be moved to the paint shop to receive full the airlines new colors later this month in Hamburg.

PRODUCTION UPDATE CONTINUED BELOW

One programming note from your friendly local FlightBlogger.

I'll be travelling for the next two weeks to spend some quality time with the world's biggest aircraft manufacturers.

Week one will be spent in Paris/Toulouse at Airbus for a technical briefing on A350, et al.

Week two will take me to Seattle/Everett at Boeing. Should be a great chance to get an up-close look at the goings on inside 40-26.

Much more to come.

Point of irony: I'm flying a 777 to Airbus and an A320 to Boeing.

Off to Dulles!

Flightglobal.com reported this morning that new renderings of the Airbus A350 illustrate the new look of the nose with 6 windows similar to that of the A380.

A closer look at the images also reveals several major changes to the wing design. The new wings show the winglets with an increased upward bend. In addition, the almost bare wing that marked the original XWB design now has three large flap fairings. The wing dimensions have appeared to change as well. The new wing looks as though it features slightly less sweep.

Judge for yourself:

Original Wing

Revised Wing

Images Courtesy Airbus and Emirates

Within the last week, airlines and other media reports have begun to discuss further delivery delays for customers of the Boeing 787 and Airbus A380.

German publication Die Welt (German, English) reported that airlines are expecting delays of 27 months in deliveries for Boeing's 787. The report cited Air Europe, Gulf Air, Vietnam Airlines and British Airways as the impacted airlines who are expected to take delivery around 2012.

Boeing has denied any change to the delivery schedule.

"There has been no change since our announcement in April," said spokeswoman Yvonne Leach.

Monarch, Royal Jordanian and LAN ordered 787s in August 2006, December 2006 an November 2007 respectively. All have voiced concern that deliveries would be delayed between 24 to 30 months. Monarch and Royal Jordanian were expected to received their first Dreamliners in 2010 and LAN in 2011.

The first delivery of the 787-9, which LAN has ordered, has already been delayed to 2012 following Boeing's most recent schedule revision on April 9.

It is likely that the 17 month delay for initial deliveries to 787 launch customers like ANA, QANTAS, Chinese carriers, Northwest, Ethiopian, Air Canada and Air India plus a scaled back production ramp up has resulted in a further stretch of the delivery schedule. The original delivery scheduled had 109 787s being delivered by the close of 2009, Boeing now forecasts just 25.

For Airbus, a German magazine WirtschaftsWoche has reported that the European airframer would be delay A380 deliveries scheduled for 2009 and that customers have been informed of the change.

Airbus' largest A380 customer, Dubai based Emirates Airlines, has said any additional delay would cause an "acute problem" for near term expansion plans.

The existing production plan calls for 13 A380 deliveries for 2008, followed by 25 in 2009. Output is expected to peak from 2010 on at a rate of 45 per year.

Earlier this week, Airbus Chief Executive Tom Enders was reported to have said he is "conducting a major review" of this delivery plan. Airbus has delivered three A380-800 superjumbo aircraft to launch customer Singapore Airlines this year, for a total of four delivered.

Image Credits Boeing, Airbus