STOPPING THE PRODUCTION OF AIRBUS 380

Emirates will not have saved the A380 program. The Dubai company finally decided to reduce its orders of superjumbo of 39 copies falling from 162 to123 the number of devices it ordered.

Since the beginning of the A380 program twelve years ago, the superjumbo has only registered 288 orders, far from the 1200 aircraft planned for its launch. Instead of the A380s, Emirates buys 40 A330 NEOs and thirty A350s.

In 2019 and 2020, Emirates will finish taking delivery of 14 A380s already ordered in the past. Immediate consequence: the production of A380 will be stopped during the year 2021.

"As a result of this decision, we do not have a substantial backlog to continue production despite all our commercial efforts with other airlines in recent years.

This brings us to stop A380 deliveries in 2021, "said Tom Enders.

The President of Airbus calls this decision "painful" especially as the A380 is on the technical and industrial plan a real success and that passengers around the world plebiscite. The A380 has twice been voted Best Airplane in the World.

But this device is no longer considered suitable for the current long-haul market. The airlines have indeed almost drawn a line on the aircraft with four reactors, for their preference for jets such as the Airbus A350, or Boeing 787 or 777, which have the same range of action as the A380.

Unlike the A380, the A350 or Boeing Dreamliner does not require airports to do additional work to accommodate them. They consume less, with optimized engines, and to fifty passengers, they have the same carrying capacity as the big carrier of Airbus.

This decision will cause a significant social impact since the aircraft manufacturer figures between 3000 and 3500 the number of jobs that will be affected in Europe by the shutdown of the A380.

The direction of the aircraft manufacturer will open discussions with the unions in the coming weeks.

However, the ramping up of other programs such as the A320 or A350 should offer important mobility opportunities for journeymen, technicians and engineers.