All Nippon Airways is rumored to be buying three Airbus A380 aircraft in a billion dollar deal, making it the first Japanese air carrier to fly the superjumbo plane. Sources say the Japanese air carrier plans to introduce the double deck airplane on flights to Hawaii, as well as other overseas destinations. The company is believed to be paying about $1.23 billion US dollars total for the three planes, which have a list price of $1.3 billion US dollars. If so, Airbus is really taking a bath on this order, in an effort to save face after failing to win any new orders for the plane through 2015.
ANA is losing the battle for the Hawaiian market to its rival Japan Airlines, as JAL served more people on the Tokyo to Hawaii route (35%), compared to ANA (20%). I have a hunch, however, that this order may never actually be delivered. There has been a long list of original A380 customer orders that have gone unfilled, and it’s my belief that Virgin Atlantic also will never take delivery of the 6 A380 aircraft that it ordered early on in the program. Virgin Atlantic originally planned to start adding the A380 back in 2000, put pushed it out first to 2017, then 2018.
