Airlines
A380 loses its appeal for Singapore Airlines
September 23rd 2016
Airbus also is facing headwinds on the A380 program after launch customer, Singapore Airlines (SIA), last week confirmed it would not extend the lease on its first very large aircraft, despite its popularity with passengers. Read More » SIA said in a statement the airliner would be returned to its lessor “as part of its regular review of fleet requirements”. SIA has four more A380s that have leases due to expire in the next few months. The flag carrier has 19 A380s and owns the majority of them. The other A380s are held by Doric Asset Finance, Hanover Leasing, DS Aviation and WealthCap.
Adding to the challenges of marketing the A380 is the expected availability of the aircraft type from Emirates Airline and the news that Malaysia Airlines (MAB) is keen to remove the A380 from its fleet as soon as buyers or lessors can be found on the second-hand market. MAB said last week it was in sales talks with other airlines about the six aircraft.
The A380 has struggled to win orders in the last three years, which has forced Toulouse to cut production from 27 airframes this year to twelve by 2018. Sandy Morris, aerospace analyst at Jefferies, told the Financial Times the A380 program will likely lose €350 million (US$392 million) by 2020. Airbus has resisted calls from its largest A380 customer, Emirates Airlines, to develop an A380neo.
