In Airbus A380 news, the ongoing saga of the Super Jumbos woes continue, as Air Austral announced the cancellation of an order for 2 Airbus A380 aircraft. The order had been originally placed back in 2009, with the airline announcing plans to outfit the A380 Super Jumbo aircraft with 840 seats in an all economy class layout. If the aircraft had entered service in that configuration, it would have set a civil aviation record for seat capacity. The news of the cancellation follows several announced delays for the planes delivery to the French leisure carrier, which had led to speculation that the order would be canceled. Air Austral currently operates a fleet of 2 Boeing 737-800 aircraft, 3 777-300ER aircraft, and 2 European built ATR 72 turboprop aircraft. The airline is also planning to take delivery of 2 early build Boeing 787 aircraft that came in too heavy to be delivered to original customer All Nippon Airways. The additional weight would have prevented those aircraft from meeting their trans Pacific Ocean range requirements.
Other Airbus A380 news: Emirates orders 2 more A380’s
In more Airbus A380 news, Emirates Airline of Dubai has stepped up to order another 2 new Airbus A380 aircraft. The planes are scheduled to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2017. These 2 additional A380 aircraft were reportedly part of another order originally placed by Skymark Airlines of Japan. Those deliveries were derailed by the airlines bankruptcy filing back in 2015. The 2 additional A380 aircraft will be powered by the Rolls Royce Trent 900 engines. Emirates Airline currently has a total of 75 Airbus A380 aircraft in service, with 65 more currently on order. The addition of more A380’s in Emirates arsenal will surely add fuel to the battle over subsidy accusations that have been leveled by the major US airlines. These rumors have been denied by the Middle East air carriers, even though the subsidies appear to be shown openly in those airlines financial reports.
