(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The head of Dubai-based airline Emirates has reacted angrily to a suggestion by Airbus that it might stop making its A380 superjumbo airliner, saying it could double its investment if the planemaker agreed to upgrade the A380 instead.
Tim Clark, president of Emirates, said he had protested to Airbus after its finance director aired the possibility of ending production of the flagship jet due to poor sales. "I am not particularly happy as you can imagine," Clark said in a telephone interview. "We are on the hook for this plane. I get pretty miffed when we have put so much at stake."
Harald Wilhelm told analysts on Wednesday Airbus would break even on the A380 through 2018, "if we would do something on the product, or even if we would discontinue the product".
The unusually frank remark reflected an internal debate over the future of the world's largest airliner but is the first time Airbus has publicly contemplated winding down the project - one of several scenarios in a review.
Others include slowing production or investing together with Rolls-Royce in an improved engine, which Clark said would improve fuel consumption by 12 to 15 percent from 2020.
Clark said that if the two companies went ahead with the upgrade Emirates would eventually replace all the 140 superjumbos it has ordered with the newly upgraded version.
But he suggested Emirates would hold Airbus to delivering the A380s it has sold if it decides to halt the programme.
Airbus would in that case probably ask Emirates to forego some of its future deliveries, he said, adding, "That is not a conversation I would like to have".
Clark said he was worried about the effect Airbus's sombre message would have on future A380 purchases by other airlines, as well as the supply chain and the European aerospace industry which has been a darling of politicians by creating jobs. He also said the stance would not help the future second-hand value of A380 aircraft. Meanwhile, Airbus shares slid 10.4 percent on Wednesday, their worst drubbing in more than six years, after the planemaker predicted flat profits in 2016.
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