THAI in Talks Over Delivery of A380s
Jul. 11–Thai Airways International has opened negotiations with Airbus on rescheduling the delivery of six A380 super-jumbo airliners, plus compensation for the airline caused by the delay in testing and certifying the world’s largest commercial airplane.
The national carrier reckoned that the delivery dates for the airliners, which were originally due to join the THAI fleet starting in 2008, would be shifted to sometime in fiscal years 2009 and 2010, with three aircraft for each year.
Airbus has told executives of THAI and 15 other A380 buyers that the delay will be in the range of two to six months “depending on the case”, according to Anthony Phillips, regional communications representative for Airbus.
Airbus executives also indicated that deliveries would be made in the original customer sequence, with the same time differentials.
Airbus had hoped the A380 test-flight programme, which takes more than a year, would be finished shortly before the scheduled delivery of the first plane to Singapore Airlines (SIA) in mid-2006. The first successful flight took place over the Pyrenees mountains last April 27.
But the delay means that the A380s will not begin commercial service for SIA until the second half of next year, Mr Phillips said in Bangkok.
Airbus has received 159 orders and commitments for the 308-tonne A380s, of which 132 are in the passenger configuration known as A380-800, and the other 27 are freighters, designated A380-800F. The list price for an A380 passenger version is $290 million — 12.2 billion baht.
THAI has not disclosed details of its compensation claim.
However, a THAI source said management partly welcomed the delay as it would give the carrier more breathing time to build up traffic to absorb the large increase in capacity provided by the superjumbos.
It would also help THAI defer financial obligations arising from taking delivery of the A380s.
The expected slowdown in the world economy caused by the oil price spike could limit growth in global air traffic in general and arrivals to Thailand, where the tourism industry has yet to recover from the effects of the Dec 26 tsunami.
A double-decker A380, which can carry up to 555 passengers and fly up to 15,000 km (8,000 nautical miles) non-stop, will be used mostly for high-density, long-haul routes. THAI plans to use the airplane for its Bangkok-London and Bangkok-Frankfurt routes, for example.
The delayed delivery of the A380s could hamper THAI’s effort to boost its image as an equal in equipment of rivals SIA and Emirates.
One source indicated that THAI might seek discounts or some “add-ons” to the aircraft as a form of compensation.
Qantas, which ordered 12 A380s, said it wanted compensation under the terms of its contract with Airbus.
Sources at THAI talked about possible further rescheduling of deliveries of other new aircraft in the future if global traffic fails to grow at projected rates because of the worldwide economic slowdown.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported that global passenger traffic in the first five months of this year grew 8.7 percent, while freight traffic expanded even more slowly at 3.1 percent.
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TAWNF, SIAL,