Page 50 - AA 2018_11

QANTAS A380 AT 10

thrust limitations meant for flights the 777, it would have saved more compete with major rivals such as
to Los Angeles from Sydney the than A$1 billion in fuel in 10 years. ‘Placing the Singapore Airlines in offering the
aircraft would be able to carry only 80 However, buying the 777 would have latest in air travel. Ultimately ordering
passengers, making the service utterly resulted in delaying the acquisition of A380 on most 20, it was scheduled to take delivery
unviable. A380 and 787 aircraft. of three by the end of 2008, another
Rolls was accused of negligence and As the A380 engine issues were of the rest of eight by the end of 2009 and all 20
breach of contract and Qantas said resolved and time passed there was by the end of 2013. While it was the
in its statement of claim the engine another backstory to this revolutionary its network first to sign up for the aircraft, it was
maker had continued to modify the new jet. Despite the long delays in actually the third to take delivery, after
Trent 900 engine but left 23 engines its production, Airbus had always was simply Singapore Airlines and Emirates.
on its big jets dangerously unmodified. sold the aircraft as a solution to At the time of the initial delivery,
That legal action was finally settled mounting congestion at the world’s not viable.’ Dixon said Qantas was in talks with
in June 2011. Joyce said the terms of major hubs. Carrying more passengers Airbus to firm up orders for further
the agreement were confidential, but in fewer planes would relieve the A380s. “We can see real reasons for
the settlement’s profit and loss impact situation, it argued, and airlines us to take more A380s to allow for
would amount to a $95 million boost would queue up to buy it. Initially, some growth and to replace some
to the airline’s bottom line. they did. But as the years went by aircraft. That’s our belief in how
Some industry insiders also blamed it became obvious airlines had an good this aircraft is. We said at the
Qantas’s heavy investment in the opposite view. They wanted smaller, time that in addition to giving us the
A380 for some of the airline’s financial twin-engine long-haul jets such as the opportunity to reinvent our product,
problems at the time. The carrier’s 787 Dreamliner and 777, the Airbus this revolutionary new aircraft offered
financial health was ailing and the hit A330 and A350. Qantas soon reached capacity and operating savings, as well
from the A380 incident didn’t help. By the same conclusion. The A380 was as environmental improvements.”
the 2013/14 financial year Joyce was certainly a flagship aircraft loved by With Dixon gone and Joyce in
reporting a record loss of $2.84 billion, its customers but it was expensive to charge, by 2016 this had changed.
blaming weak demand in Australia, buy and operate and couldn’t match In August that year, speaking at a
subdued consumer and business the economics of the new breed of CAPA Australia Pacific Summit, Joyce
confidence and higher fuel prices. But twin-aisles. declared the airline had no plans to
observers suggested fleeting decisions Qantas had been the first airline buy any more A380s, including the
had also had an impact. Qantas had to sign a contract with Airbus for eight superjumbos still listed on the
ordered the A380, eschewing the the A380, even though at the time order books at Airbus. Qantas was
Boeing 777-300ER which became it remained a paper aircraft. Back “continually pushing those aircraft
the successful mainstay of many then, in 2000, it saw it as being (deliveries) out, so our intention is
of its competitors’ fleets. It was the cornerstone of its fleet renewal A380s are a common sight at that we’re not taking those aircraft…
estimated that if Qantas had bought program and crucial to its ability to Sydney Airport. seth jaworski We have 12 aircraft and the 12 aircraft

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