Originally Posted by
Planespeaking
With the production line being closed and airlines disposing of their A380 fleets I wonder what the resale value will be of the existing airframes. Perhaps there may be a commercial future in bulk airfreight, or even outsize cargo, but that will require major structural alterations which may not be a viable option.
However Boeing did it with it's 747, and I understand it's 747-800 Freighter helped to keep it's production line open and used some of the unsold hulls. Apart from Lufthansa I don't think the pax version of the 800 sold at all. But Boeing sold thousands of 747s over the years and made billions of dollars. Airbus has committed billions of euros in a vanity project to be bigger and better than the US and sold about 400 A380s, losing a fortune in the process, Im just sorry for the employees
Got to say I fully agree , while I cannot say o understand the intracicies of the PAX and Cargo aviation industry.
It sesvlike the A380 was easily 15-20 years too late. , I did used to wonder when reading of the upcoming 787 and it's eventual rather sizeable ' stretch ', that to my knowledge doesn't require a very long runway.
Nor did it need airports to spend huge amounts , altering terminals , and Airbridges to accommodate it.
Also why when they had the A340 , which I read was not fuel efficient and as such led to less being sold and that program closed .
Then as you say we had the 747-8 , that I think had one American client ( possibly cargo ), I was also under the impression IAG( BA) Took a couple of PAX versions .
But when the 800 was launched it quickly became obvious it was a none starter , and with only Emirates being major customers, and now they too are phasing out aircraft , barley a decade old , why did Airbus not pull the plug sooner .
When you now have the incredible A350-1000 , and 777-1000 is it or is it the ' X' ( As I say I'm.not an expert) but with such aircraft, and airlines wanting an airframe that can fly non stop from Brisbane and Sydney ( and Melbourne) in one ' hop' the A380 makes even less sense.
But I still cannot see BA , Lufthansa and Emirates and Korean , suddenly off loading these aircraft.
You spoke of the costs of freight conversation, but what are the costs for this ? Would it be even viable .
Just seems like a tremendous waste and as you say vanity project that , could have cost Airbus dear, we're it not for the A350 and the new ' Neo , and A321XLR. Neo ' fleets .
With the disaster that has been the 737max , Airbus though still seem to be doing well in spite of the utter failure of this A380 project.