British Airways pushes back A380 deliveries by up to two years

[TAP-A343]

British Airways is pushing back its Airbus A380 delivery schedule, with some later aircraft being postponed by at least two years.
The UK flag-carrier is also planning to take six more aircraft in its current fleet out of service during the 2010 season.

BA has 12 A380s on order but says it has "extended" the arrival schedule for the first six by an average of five months.

It says, however, that the first A380 is still expected to arrive in spring 2012, ahead of the London Olympic Games.

But the delivery of the final six has been extended by two years, on average, until autumn 2016.

The carrier had originally been expecting to take delivery of four aircraft per year and complete the introduction of all 12 by autumn 2014.

BA has also stated today that it will ground its last three 757-200s in summer 2010 and another three Boeing 747-400s in winter 2010.

All the fleet changes follow a review of BA's business plan in the "challenging economic conditions".

BA is expecting to cut capacity by 3.5% over the summer 2009 season, compared with a previous estimate of 2.5%, and by 5% over winter 2009-10.

In May, BA stated that it would ground 16 aircraft for the upcoming winter, a total of eight 757-200s and eight 747-400s.

Source: http://www.flightglobal.com/articles...two-years.html

Airbus must be happy that, at least, BA didn't cancel the order.

[11Fan]

I suspect that this is just the beginning and that all OEM's are going to be getting additional requests to defer for the next several years; Bombardier, Embraer, Airbus, and Boeing.

I agree with you TAP that it is better than a cancellation. I keep reminding my team to "gird the loins." The next several years are going to be bumpy.

[Eric Diffoot]

Airbus just dodged a bullet (BA delaying its 12 A380s) while Boeing took it in the gut (QA cancelling 15 of its B787s). Probally more delays/cancellations will be hitting Boeing and Airbus this year.

[AA 1818]

If anything, isn't this a good thing (in disguise) for Airbus in that they can deliver planes to other customers who desire the A380, ahead of schedule/and or bridge/shorten the gap of original delays made at the A380 debut? I understand fully that few airlines want to recieve A380s at this time, but I am sure that SQ might (if it is not too costly to take on the new aircraft...ahead of schedule).

[WhiteKnuckles]

Do airlines write into their orders the kind of flexibility they seem to have? I mean, if I made a purchase for so many widgets in so many months, I don't think I could just decide to purchase them in twice as many months. The manufacturer has to make all sorts of plans and purchases themselves to fulfill contracts so they would suffer if their customers were to cut the annual total in half.

Maybe there's so much commission on a big aircraft order that they will write the contract any way the customer wants.

[11Fan]

...they will write the contract any way the customer wants.

Mutual agreements - Everything is negotiable - All considerations factored in beforehand - Very little (if any) ambiguity.

In my experience with one OEM.