Airbus Taking Flight
Courtesy of Bloomberg
Airbus SAS has been met with several delays this past year in regard to delivering their heavily requested A380 aircraft. However this past week Airbus has said that they are confident that they are going to be able to produce the projected 12 jumbo jets by the end of 2008. Due to the delays, along with the current economic conditions, the company’s stock has declined 34% this year, however after the announcement this past week, the stock rose 79 cents, the equivalent of 5.8%.
This could be a potentially very beneficial time for Airbus to gain significant market share against their main rival Boeing, due to Boeing’s current labor dispute and US political conflicts. Presently there are already 21 orders of the A380 aircraft scheduled for 2009, Airbus confirmed their confidence that they would also be able to produce 100% of those orders as well. So who is waiting for these planes? Two large scale clients of Airbus are Qantas and Singapore Airlines, Bloomberg‘s Andrea Rothman had this to say about the situation and these two clients:
“The first Qantas A380 will be used on the Melbourne to Los Angeles route starting Oct. 20, and on the Sydney to Los Angeles route from Oct. 24. The carrier will later add A380 flights from Australia to Singapore and London. Singapore Airlines Ltd., the first to fly the A380, took delivery of its sixth 470-seat plane this week. It will use the aircraft to operate a second daily round-trip flight to London.”
Qantas’ CEO, Geoff Dixon said: “When we ordered our A380 in 2000, we said that in addition to giving us the opportunity to reinvent our product, this revolutionary new aircraft offered capacity and operating savings, as well as environmental improvements. Everything we have seen since our initial order has reinforced this view.”
Why the Demand?
“The A380 sets the standards for the 21st century, “ said Tom Enders, Airbus’ CEO. “More than 380 patents on board underline the aircraft’s leadership in eco-efficiency and innovation and will allow Qantas to continue to grow whilst reducing its impact on the environment. We appreciate Australia’s iconic airline sharing the A380 vision with us from the very beginning.”