Industry Airbus to end A380 production by 2021 as Emirates reduces orderbook

Emirates Airline and Airbus have announced, that the UAE-carrier will reduce its order book for the Airbus A380 aircraft to 39 airframes. This decision was made after a review of its operations by the airline. The overall A380 order book for Emirates has now been reduced from 162 aircraft to 123 aircraft.

Over the next two years, Emirates will take delivery of  14 more Airbus A380. By the end of 2021, the manufacturer will then stop producing the aircraft. Given the lack of order backlog and the consequence of Emirates reducing its order book, Airbus had no chance but to cease the A380 programme. Next, to Emirates, Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways (ANA) will take delivery of thee A380a as well.

“As a result of this decision we have no substantial A380 backlog and hence no basis to sustain production, despite all our sales efforts with other airlines in recent years. This leads to the end of A380 deliveries in 2021,” said Airbus Chief Executive Officer Tom Enders. “The consequences of this decision are largely embedded in our 2018 full year results”.

“The A380 is not only an outstanding engineering and industrial achievement. Passengers all over the world love to fly on this great aircraft. Hence today’s announcement is painful for the A380 communities and us worldwide. But, keep in mind that A380s will still roam the skies for many years to come and Airbus will, of course, continue to support the A380 operators fully” Tom Enders added.

In a statement, Airbus declared that the company would start discussions with its social partners in the next weeks. Potentially, 3,000 to 3,500 people could be impacted over the next three years. Airbus said, that - as the A320neo production is currently being ramped up - employees could change positions within the concern.

On the other hand, Emirates has decided to purchase 40 state-of-the-art Airbus A330neos and 30 Airbus A350 aircraft. Both twin-engine aircraft types will help the carrier to extend its route network. Both aircraft offer good operational performances.

HH Sheikh Ahmed said: “Emirates’ fleet strategy to operate a young, modern, and efficient all-wide body fleet remains unchanged.  The 40 A330neos and 30 A350s that we are ordering today will complement Emirates’ fleet mix, support our network growth, and give us more flexibility to better serve seasonal or opportunistic demand. Both the A330neos and A350s will play an important role in our future fleet and network plans.”

Emirates will use the A330neo especially on regional routes. This will enable the carrier to serve smaller airports with more capacity, while needing less flights. The A350s meanwhile will be implemented into the airline´s long-haul route network. Emirates will benefit from the aircraft´s flexibility in terms of capacity deployment. Mostly, the A350s will fly routes that are 8 to 12 hours away from the airline´s operational hub at Dubai.

Emirates Airline was founded in March 1985 and is an airline based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The airline is the largest in the Middle East and operates over 3,600 weekly flights to more than 150 cities in 80 countries. Emirates´ current fleet consists of 109 Airbus A380s and 171 Boeing 777s.