LITTLE ROCK — Airbus SAS, the world’s largest maker of commercial aircraft, delivered 10 A380s in 2009, one short of its target and fewer than the previous year, as the company struggles to customize the double-decker plane for airlines.
Airbus shipped 12 of the superjumbos in 2008 and initially planned to deliver 21 in 2009, then lowered the forecast four times. The number of handovers this year was compiled by Bloomberg News by surveying airline customers, and Airbus confirmed the figure Wednesday.
“The two big issues for Airbus on A380 are making them on cost and on time, and then finding enough paying passengers to fill them,” said Nick Cunningham, an analyst at Evolution Securities in London.
Deliveries of the model, the world’s largest passenger aircraft, began in 2007 with one handoff to Singapore Airlines Ltd. after Airbus ran about two years late because of difficulty with cabin wiring. The company has spent at least $26 billion to develop the A380, or 50 percent more than originally projected, and is faltering in meeting demands for features such as showers, enclosed suites and custom lighting.
Louis Gallois, chief executive officer of Airbus parent European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co. (EADS), said earlier this month that 11 of the planes would probably be handed over this year and that costs remain too high.
Airbus’ current delivery plan for 2010 calls for “about 20” A380s, said Stefan Schaffrath, a spokesman for the Toulouse, France-based manufacturer.
The precise figure will be disclosed Jan. 12.
Among airlines scheduled to get A380s early next year are Air France-KLM Group, which expects its second plane in January; Qantas Airways Ltd., seeking delivery of its sixth A380; and Singapore Airlines, planning to get its 11th in February. Emirates Airlines, the Dubai-based airline that has ordered the most A380s, now has seven of them.
“If they can do more than 20 next year, that’ll indicate that the production system is improving,” Zafar Khan, an analyst at Societe Generale in London, said in November.
Tom Enders, chief executive officer of Airbus, said Oct. 30 at Air France’s first A380 acceptance that the company was working “flat out” and that a few A380s planned for 2009 might slip into early 2010.
“It’s clear that the costs are too high for the time being, and we have to do everything to reduce costs of the A38O,” Gallois said Dec. 11.
Analysts predict that EADS will take a charge against cost overruns in the last quarter of 2009.
Each “head of version,” or first plane for a new customer, involves considerable work because of customization demands from airlines hoping to set their A380 service apart from that offered by competitors.
Deutsche Lufthansa AG said in November that its first A380 will be delayed by several months because of “ internal delays at Airbus.” The Cologne, Germany-based carrier planned to take its first A380 next month and now says it’ll come sometime in the summer.
The A380 can carry 873 passengers, compared with more than 550 on some flights of Chicago-based Boeing Co.’s 747. Like most large planes, the Airbus model is outfitted with fewer seats than the capacity because of space arrangements in premium cabins.
The plane has a list price of $327 million, though airlines get discounts for multiple purchases.
Airbus has won 202 orders from 17 clients for the A380, Chief Operating Officer John Leahy said in November, and has delivered 23 of the planes. EADS executives have said the production difficulties haven’t had an effect on interest from airlines or commitments to buy.
While Singapore Airlines has generally reported higher occupancy rates in A380s than on other aircraft, some airlines have had trouble filling the planes and getting reasonable levels of premium passengers.
Emirates, the biggest Arab airline, redeployed an A380 from the Dubai-New York route in 2008 to the Toronto to-Bangkok route as the global recession sapped demand for travel to the U.S. The plane will move back to the New York route in 2010.
Delays to the A380 and rival Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner have distracted the top planemakers from developing new narrow-body models. Airbus is also struggling with the A400M military transport plane, which is over budget and behind schedule.
The company has already taken $4.7 billion in charges against money lost on that project.
Airbus, which contributes two-thirds of revenue at EADS, handed over 104 planes in the third quarter, the same number as a year earlier, even as the airline industry suffered billions of dollars in losses.
The company said in November that it aimed for 490 deliveries for the whole year, up from 483 last year. Final figures, as well as projections for 2010, will be released at a briefing in Seville, Spain, on Jan. 12.
Business, Pages 23 on 12/31/2009