Emirates seeks A380s on time

Dubai: Emirates, the biggest customer of the A380 superjumbo, said on Tuesday it is in talks with Airbus to see if it will receive its A380s on time next year after the European planemaker announced a new delivery delay.

Airbus said it has completed the A380 programme review and is now informing customers about changes to its delivery schedule.

The company plans to deliver 12 double-decker planes in 2008 instead of 13, and 21 in 2009 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," Airbus said in a statement.

Emirates has bought 58 A380s, and expects to receive five of these planes before the end of March 2009. "We still expect to receive five A380s in our current financial year," an Emirates spokesperson told Gulf News.

Emirates president Tim Clark said recently the airline would get 12 more planes between April 2009 and March 2010.

The airline could not say if those deliveries were unaffected by the revised Airbus delivery plan.

"We are in dialogue with Airbus to determine the impact on our A380 deliveries in 2009. We have no specific dates or details at this time," it said.

Airbus said, "Time and resources needed for Wave 1 production aircraft are higher than expected, and this has created some delay in the changeover to Wave 2 with its new design and manufacturing process."

Seventeen aircraft are in various stages of production, mainly in the wiring installation and system testing phases, and that most aircraft due for delivery in 2008 have already flown, the company said.

It has delivered four planes to Singapore Airlines, the only airline to operate the plane at present.

Airbus did not say what the financial impact of the new delays would be.

The A380 is two years behind schedule and Airbus has paid compensation to Emirates for the past delays.

If the delays had not occurred, Emirates would have received 17 A380s by now.

Among other Gulf carriers, Etihad Airways has ordered four A380s and Qatar Airways five. Etihad is not scheduled to receive the plane until 2013, while Qatar's deliveries have been rescheduled for 2012.