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Reply To: Airbus wins 20 A380 order from Amedeo

Home Forums Commercial Aviation Airbus wins 20 A380 order from Amedeo Reply To: Airbus wins 20 A380 order from Amedeo

#501381
happy_drone
Participant

I don’t think the A380 is selling well or that its long or short-term prospects are good.
The only sales I’ve read about for over a year now is this one from the lessor Amedeo and the sale to Emirates.
Amedeo have stated that theirs is a speculative order, meaning that they have no customers yet for the aircraft.
Emirates on the other hand don’t have to be concerned about fuel costs for the away leg. To my mind this means that the business case for the A380 doesn’t exist.
For the same period both Lufthansa and Hong Kong Airlines have cancelled orders, despite the penalties. Even the French are having second thoughts about the A380.

Both Malaysian and Qantas seem to be struggling and this seems to be at least in part due to the A380. Big planes need a high load factor to make them pay. However Qantas have been flying flights from Dubai to Melbourne at 50% load factor. For example for some flights more than 200 of their 406 economy and premium economy seats were unfilled a day before departure. In one case, more than half the business class cabin’s 64 flat-bed seats were also without paying customers as were eight of its 14 high-yielding first-class seats.