Airbus forced to put back ETA of A380 deliveries – Business – Times Online — This news story makes it sound like there is more to it than simple “bottlenecks.” Meanwhile the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, a more versatile aircraft, appears to be selling like hotcakes.
And when I hear the word “bottleneck” coinciding with a six month delay I immediately think: aha, software!
AIRBUS was forced to announce an embarrassing delay to the delivery of its flagship superjumbo yesterday, less than a month after the A380 was paraded at Heathrow.
The European aircraft maker admitted that it would deliver just one 555-seat aircraft to Singapore Airlines, its launch customer, by the end of this year. Next year it will deliver only nine of the huge new aorcraft, against initial hopes of 20 to 25.
Deliveries planned for 2008 and 2009, to customers including Britain’s Virgin, will also be delayed.
In a letter to customers, Airbus said that the delivery schedule would be pushed back by six to seven months, blaming “bottlenecks” in the “definition, manufacturing and installation of electrical systems”.
Maybe if Boeing keeps selling 787 Dreamliners, they won’t feel as much pressure to crank out so many bombs, rockets, and missiles in order to make their quarterly projections.
That’s always good news, if you look at the military-industrial complex from the old Eisenhower perspective.
As a lifelong software developer…. I feel their pain.
Not surprising at all. One of the Discovery channels had a show on how this plane was being built. Production of different parts (wings, fuselage, tail section, etc) is spread out all over Europe. When they all are brought together for final assembly, the largest pieces could only be transported on roads at night because they were so big that they occupied the whole roadway. I thought at the time that they surely must be making plans to streamline the process somehow, or else it’ll never work. I’d be interested to know if anything has changed since that show was shot.
To build a plane in the US you have to spread the production around to certain influential Congressional districts. It must be much harder to make the EU happy with production plans. Like the guy said in Godfather 2, I just want to wet my beak.
The airline I fly with most often (Emirates) has the most orders in for that beast.
It will be fun to fly on the first time but, surely, after that I’m going to hate it.
I can only picture a total mess getting on and off of it.
When I finally get to Hong Kong (or where ever) after three or four bad movies in a row and wallowing in a plane full of food service crap, I’m am desperate to get off the plane but I can’t! totally feel trapped as people SLOWLY load up and trickle off.
It’s horrible and can only be worse with the A380.
In response to the comment made by Mr. Gary Mark:
“Maybe if Boeing keeps selling 787 Dreamliners, they won’t feel as much pressure to crank out so many bombs, rockets, and missiles in order to make their quarterly projections.
That’s always good news, if you look at the military-industrial complex from the old Eisenhower perspective”
I don’t known where you’re from, but If you’re from Europe, I’m sure the USA couldn’t have spent enough on bombs, rockets , and missilses, during the cold war to protect you from the specter of seeing the Soviet Union and it’s tanks rolling into your proud cities and which would’ve taken no more than about 48 hrs since you fail to spend money on your own defense. But why would you want to as long as you had the war mongering US to potect you. If you are by any chance from the US or Canada even, then you are a damn fool!
The problem with the Airbus delivery ( Airbust) must go deeper than the wiring problem to cause this lenght of delay. What is being covered up?
Thank you Robert Day for saying it exactly right.