Airbus confident on replacing A380 engines on time, reveals new aircraft deliveries and model
Airbus is all set to deliver three freshly-built A380s to Qantas Airways this December and future deliveries, according to the aircraft manufacturer, would be fitted with new engines and meet completion target at the same time.
Following the engine woes suffered by Airbus' superjumbos, chief operating officer John Leahy expressed confidence that the aviation company is keeping on track with its delivery target despite the controversies encountered by its flagship aircraft.
Mr Leahy told AAP on Wednesday that Airbus remains firm on its A380 delivery schedules for 2011 and he is optimistic that the aircraft manufacturing firm would be able to meet its goal of assembling and transporting 20 new planes to their recipients by next year.
This amidst the A380s' brushed with engine troubles weeks ago, where airlines were forced to prohibit their Airbus fleets from flying pending the identification of the glitch, which eventually led to several engine replacements, mostly on Qantas planes.
Airbus said that a number of engine swapping has been underway and new Trent 900s are being installed on A380s, with Mr Leahy quickly clarifying that the engine should now be free from any troubles as "Rolls Royce seems to have identified the problem and is fixing it."
Rolls Royce, along with Engine Alliance, is the main supplier of engines powering most of Airbus planes.
The engine manufacturer had concluded that oil leaks caused the engine fire in a Qantas flight that led to its engine blowout, prompting the firm to overhaul the safety standards of the Trent 900, which is now, as insisted by Roll Royce, oil leak-free and fitted with a software that would force its motor's shutdown in the unlikely event of another leak.
Those new safety measures, according to Rolls Royce, should effectively avert any engine disintegration and explosion.
Mr Leahy said that Airbus' engine woes should be behind it soon and the company is now focus on ramping up the marketing of its new A320, which he said would be utilising new engines and is specifically designed to achieve better fuel efficiency.
Airbus plans to commence delivery of the A320 in 2016 at a listed price of about $US81 million or $A83.73 million.