Delay is another blow to company after fewer than expected orders mean the superjumbo is financial disappointment

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Airbus has suffered yet another hitch in the troubled life of its A380 “superjumbo”, as it was forced to postpone delivery of 12 aircraft to its largest customer, Emirates.

The double-decker A380, the world’s largest passenger jet, has proved a disappointment for Airbus since its much-delayed debut in 2007 and the firm has already been forced to cut production after winning fewer orders than expected.

The latest obstacle to throw the €25bn (£21bn) aircraft programme off course has left analysts questioning whether executives at Airbus might consider cancelling it altogether.

The Toulouse-based aviation firm said it would delay delivery to Emirates of six jets due to arrive next year until 2018, with a further six put back from 2018 to 2019.

The postponement is said to be linked to technical issues Emirates is having with the new Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines it has ordered for its fleet of A380s.

It comes days after Airbus revealed that an order from Iran Air for 100 planes, some of which were expected to be A380s, did not include the aircraft at all.

Airbus developed the A380, which can carry 850 passengers, believing that airlines would turn to larger jets to feed more people through hub airports serving a growing number of “megacities”.

This vision of the future prompted the firm – part-owned by the French, German and Spanish governments – to predict huge demand for the giant twin-aisle, four-engine planes.

Despite cost overruns and long delays that cost several executives their jobs, the jet eventually took to the skies for its first public flight in 2007 to great acclaim from its early passengers.

But stagnant economic growth and a lack of orders from countries such as the US and Japan have forced Airbus to rein in production.

It has delivered just 193 superjumbos and has only a further 126 orders left to fulfil, having initially predicted demand for 1,200 over two decades.

At the same time, smaller but longer range twin-engine jets with large cargo capacity – such as Boeing’s 777 – have proved popular because airlines see them as less risky economically.

John Strickland, a veteran aviation industry analyst and director of JLS Consulting, said the A380 was well-liked but that there had not been a sufficient market for it so far.

“It’s regarded as a fantastic aircraft by the airlines that have taken it. [IAG chief executive] Willie Walsh has praised it, [Emirates chief executive] Tim Clark has praised it. They say passengers even choose it, asking to go on an A380 if there’s a choice.

“But these days, given the economic climate, airlines are more risk-averse and the A380 has a lot of seats to fill.”

Airbus has said that it can break even at an annual production rate of 20 A380s, which carry an order book price of $430m but are typically sold at a discount.

It beat this target in 2015, with 27 rolling off the production line, but a slowdown in orders forced the company to slash scheduled annual deliveries to just 12 from 2018. The firm is also cutting costs to make up for the shortfall in income.

Strickland said Airbus now faced a difficult decision over whether to continue making the jet at a loss in the hope that its patience would be rewarded within a few years.

“So the question is whether Airbus can get through this challenging period to the brighter future which they envision, where airlines are falling over themselves to get hold of larger planes,” he said.

“They will have to keep it under continuous review because it’s a commercially driven business, even though it’s government-owned.

“They have many other calls on their investment. At the moment it’s a greater risk to throw in the towel, but there’s a challenge of how to maintain very low levels of production if you’re actually losing money.”

The aviation analyst Alex Macheras said the A380 was highly popular with passengers and had created an “overall feeling that this is what all modern day airliners should feel like”.

But he also cast doubt on how long Airbus could remain loyal to the aircraft, which was conceived and developed before the tenure of the current chief executive, Tom Enders.

“There is the sad reality that not enough airlines are ordering A380s to keep the production alive for as long as Airbus would have liked,” said Macheras.

“Emirates are taking the majority of the remaining A380s on order, and so with a delay to their deliveries, it doesn’t leave a demand for many A380 air frames for other carriers.”

But he said Airbus could take solace from the potential success story of its new A350-1000 plane, which is due to enter service next year.