http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06164/697876-28.stm
New Airbus has worrisome wake at higher altitudes
Tuesday, June 13, 2006

By Andy Pasztor and Daniel Michaels, The Wall Street Journal

The Airbus A380 airliner, already buffeted by years of production and development headaches, is likely to face a daunting challenge once it enters service next year: unprecedented operating restrictions intended to protect nearby aircraft from flying into the air turbulence churned up by the superjumbo jet.

Rules that include special flight restrictions and extra spacing could pose an immediate marketing problem for Airbus because other planes in the A380's vicinity will likely have to either slow down or wait longer to take off to allow for the additional distance. Airbus designed and marketed the $300 million plane amid promises that it would fit seamlessly into existing global air-traffic patterns.

International aviation regulators and aerodynamic experts failed again last week to reach a consensus about the extent of the safety hazards created by the A380's unusually powerful wake, according to people involved in the deliberations. Meeting behind closed doors in Montreal, a study group including U.S. and European government officials continued to disagree about permanent safeguards to ensure that turbulence created by the A380 won't affect airplanes during takeoff, cruising and landing. In extreme cases, such turbulence is capable of wrenching even a large jetliner out of control.

Without a set of permanent standards, some version of the strict interim guidelines now in effect -- requiring at least twice the normal in-flight separation when trailing the twin-deck Airbus model -- likely will stay in place until well into 2007. Barring a last-minute breakthrough, these people said, this means that the world's largest passenger aircraft is poised to begin service with significantly more-stringent separation rules than any other jet.

Airbus has touted the 555-seat A380 as "the economical solution for heavily traveled routes." But the interim guidance from the International Civil Aviation Organization calls for minimum separations of 10 nautical miles for all aircraft following a landing A380, compared with the typical five miles required when following today's largest aircraft. For aircraft flying the same route directly behind an A380 at cruising altitude, the recommended minimum spacing is tripled to 15 nautical miles. A further complication is that controller organizations previously warned they may need as long as nine months preparation time to phase in new standards.

Airbus, which is 80 percent-owned by European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. and 20 percent-owned by Britain's BAE Systems PLC, declined to comment on the turbulence issue. Some Airbus officials recently have expressed a willingness to accept a modified version of the present standards as a first step -- with the understanding that permanent rules would follow relatively quickly. The scientific work initially was supposed to be finished around the start of this year, but verifying certain computer-modeling techniques has been especially tough.

The strength of a wake depends partly on the weight of the aircraft that produced it. Wind and weather conditions can make turbulence hard to measure accurately around airports. Turbulence levels are also particularly tough to evaluate while a jet is climbing or cruising at high altitudes.

Since the controversy erupted last year, Airbus has invested millions of dollars and months of extensive flight tests to try to demonstrate that the wake of the 500-ton A380 poses no greater potential safety threat than turbulence generated by Boeing's largest model, the 747, which weighs about 100 tons less. There haven't been any recent crashes of jetliners attributed primarily to wake encounters, though over the years some business and private planes have experienced serious incidents and even crashed after following a larger aircraft too closely near an airport.

Industry and government officials on both sides of the Atlantic increasingly predict that Airbus will be forced to accept different rules than it anticipated. Andre Auer, head of the Joint Aviation Authorities, a European umbrella group with some regulatory responsibilities, said in an interview days before last week's Montreal sessions that the interim guidelines for the A380 "are likely to stay in place until commercial service starts."

The ICAO, which issued the preliminary safety standards in November, confirmed that no final agreement has been reached. The study group is interested in "harmonizing the new specifications, whatever they may be," so they apply equally all over the world, said spokesman Denis Chagnon. He added that the study group "is working well together" and hopes to issue a report in mid-November that ICAO officials could then review.

Privately, even some Airbus officials predict the A380 temporarily may have to be put into a new air-traffic-control category, until its safety is proved in actual conditions.

The A380 has faced other head winds, including a six-month production delay. Separately, engineers were recently forced to reinforce some structural elements inside the wings after they fell short on a stress test in February.

When will Mallya get his planes?

Also Air India must be real happy it stuck with Boeing all the way. After the nasty quarrel with Airbus when deciding over the mega-plane deal, must be happy about its decision.

Press release from Airbus says:

http://www.airbus.com/en/presscentre/pressreleases/pressreleases_items/06_06_13_a380 

certif_delivery_production_programme.html

http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=businessNews&storyID=2006-06-14T195600Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-254682-1.xml&archived=False

Malaysian Air reviewing Airbus purchase agreement
Wed Jun 14, 2006 8:04 PM IST 
 
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian Airline System Bhd said on Wednesday it was reviewing the terms of its agreement with Airbus to buy six A380s after the plane maker announced delays in delivery of the superjumbo.

"We were advised by Airbus yesterday that only nine of the A380 jets would be delivered in 2007 to its launch customers," the national carrier said in a statement.

"In view of this development, Malaysia Airlines and its holding company, Penerbangan Malaysia Bhd, are reviewing the terms of the purchase agreement to decide on the next steps," it said, without elaborating.

Airbus revealed new delays of at least six months in deliveries of its A380 on Tuesday.

http://www.ndtvprofit.com/homepage/news.asp?id=254700

Forgeard apologises for A380 delivery fiasco

June 14, 2006

By Tim Hepher

PARIS (Reuters) - The French co-chief of European aerospace group EADS, Noel Forgeard, apologised for delays in the Airbus A380 aircraft programme which thrashed its stock on Wednesday but sidestepped questions over his own future.

Deeply embarrassed by extra delays to a project which he pioneered while head of Airbus, Forgeard issued an implicit warning that the EADS subsidiary must get its house in order or face tighter controls from headquarters.

"As one of the co-CEOs of EADS appointed one year ago, I am extremely sorry for all of you and the investors who have placed confidence in EADS," Forgeard said.

"I have built my entire industrial career on building confidence for shareholders. Since I have been Airbus we have never missed a projection that we gave and this announcement comes as a big blow," he told analysts in a conference call.

"We have come very suddenly and recently to an area in which the message was that there was no longer a risk but a certainty of delays in deliveries," Forgeard said.

Usually an approachable and ebullient public performer, Forgeard avoided the press on Wednesday and confined his remarks to an audience of financial analysts in a call replayed on the Internet. EADS press handlers declined requests to speak to him.

The six months of extra delays come on top of a similar setback last year and are being blamed on problems integrating the 500 km of wiring in the world's largest airliner. The huge airliner is now more than a year behind its original schedule.

...

EADS is under pressure to explain why the gloomy outlook for A380 deliveries contrasts so starkly with the company's confidence on its revised schedule, expressed as recently as May, once airlines had absorbed previous delays of six months.

Some analysts have questioned the legacy which Forgeard left his successor Gustav Humbert when he was promoted last year.

Forgeard said he and other executives had spoken in good faith on the basis of information available from Airbus at the time, but the Frenchman is closely linked to the A380 project which he championed while head of Airbus until last year.

"I think it is a shareholder decision," he said, asked if he saw a threat to his future. "We have a board of directors which has to appreciate the situation ... The aim is to find the right way forward without finger-pointing," he added.

He said EADS would not rush into management changes but took up the chance to repeat his preference for a more tightly organised EADS structure -- a proposal which split EADS's French and German shareholders during a power struggle last year.

"It is true that we face a new situation because we had no reason to believe Airbus could not handle the problem and obviously we were wrong. So either we the change the rules together with Gustav Humbert and take some measures inside the team or we change the overall scheme to be more centralised."

Cracks in the relationship between Forgeard and the first German head of Airbus emerged at the Berlin air show last month when Humbert rejected Forgeard's talk of a "growth crisis".

Humbert, who had served as Forgeard's number two, said he had always argued for better processes at the world's largest plane maker and was happy his boss had "joined the party".

Hope he doesn't demand his A380s before the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi!

the_380 wrote:

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what about our Kingfisher Airlines what has mallya got to say on this delay

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vivekman wrote:

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Hope he doesn't demand his A380s before the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi!

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Malaysia is now talking in terms of a traffic potential review of the A380. In other words, it might be a step towards cancellation. They have ordered 6. They now say they feel they don't need them after all. 

BBC TV (June 16) says that Airbus is hinting that a futher delay cannot be ruled out.

What's happening?   

oh boy i wouldnt mind waiting to get these stuff on-board the A380

http://www.flightglobal.com/Articles...irst+Class+suites+concept+for.html