Monday, October 4, 2010

Turbulence continues to Airbus A380 - the largest passenger aircraft in commercial air

E 'raw state to fly the Airbus A380, the largest double-decker "super jumbo" aircraft, which was once considered the future of civil aviation and the celebration was intended to take over the sky. Just a few years ago there were experts praise:

"Airbus has had the foresight to correctly predict a context of high fuel prices and the general public for quieter airports, fewer emissions and less crowded skies. This is the kind of superior product vision that has served our industry well well "former Engine Alliance President Bruce Hughes said.

A customer of Airbus, said: "The A380 is the future of flight."

The problems started before the first flight in October 2007 a long period of time but have persisted since the maiden voyage. With only 10 deliveries in 2009 and a total of 23 since 2007, the enthusiasm for this great aircraft fell.

By all means the A380 is a great plane. It combines the latest technology and aircraft floor by nearly 50 percent moreSpace. It offers comfort in every class and more space for more than 550 passengers to stretch their legs without precedent.

The aircraft has reduced noise and exhaust emissions, minimizing environmental impact. Its new generation engines and advanced wing and undercarriage design: the A380 not only complies with today's noise limits, but is significantly quieter than its competitors, producing half the noise on takeoff.

The weight-saving A380Composite materials to help make it a very economical aircraft. Fuel burns 12 percent less than its competitors and also reduced exhaust emissions. In each category, the A380 looks like a winner.

So what went wrong? It hard to put my finger on a reason - this is a great project that took many years, Had cost billions of dollars and the combined efforts of thousands of people from different European countries. But we have highlighted some important questions:

DesignChanges

The increased costs due to design changes being struck with the supplier production problems, and this took a toll. The price of the aircraft has doubled since its inception when the market fell by a larger share.
Since the cost of the A380 further, the entire development has risen to 15 billion price tag of U.S. $. Meanwhile, the market for the VLA (Very Large Aircraft) is to further erode, and a stream of EADS (European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company) reviewwhat went wrong, not to help the fortunes A380.

Reliability

Qantas and Emirates have concerns about the reliability A380.

"We had a number of issues leading independent punctuality and reliability," said Emirates President Tim Clark.

Qantas had established high-profile problems with the technical problems of all three of its A380 short. The airline said that the two A380 were "unusable problem with a tank gauge system," while thethird "experienced a problem with the nose wheel steering and an independent ground fuel leakage problem."

The latest A380 customer, Air France learned a series of embarrassing problems with the A380.

Economy

The recession is not so good for commercial aviation, many airlines continue to lose money. The industry is fighting other $ 5600000000 losses next year to top $ 11000000000 in 2009. Many aircraft have placed orders for the A380, including Lufthansa,Virgin Airlines, Thai Airways, Fed Ex, and others. Sure, the recession is the main factor for the plane to the uncertain future.

The question remains - is the world ready for a VLA - or will ever be ready for this great plan? Time will tell. But the money spent to get the answer is not worth it. It can fit into the history books as the Concorde SST.

What happens to the A380, Boeing seems certain as the winner in this racewhen he decided to abandon its plans VLA 5 years ago and for an expanded version of its successful 747 (the 747-8) opting instead.

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