Airbus A380

Emirates price tag for an A380 stands at $234,000,000
Quick item from the Department of Things That Probably Weren't Meant to be Posted on the Internet: WSJ.com inexplicably posted [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] from Nimrod Capital LLC, which today bought the first of three A380s it is leasing to Emirates, each for 12 years.

All the headlines have been focused on China Southern's [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] today, but for Doric Nimrod Air Two Limited, MSN077 is their first aircraft, and the 16th of 90 that the Dubai-based carrier has on order.

Doric Nimrod Air Two Limited (the "Company") is pleased to announce that its wholly owned subsidiary, MSN 077 Limited (the "Subsidiary"), has today acquired an Airbus A380-800 aircraft bearing manufacturer's serial number 077 (the "Aircraft") for the sum of US$234,000,000. The Aircraft was delivered to the Subsidiary today at the Airbus delivery centre in Hamburg, Germany.

The Airbus list price of an A380 currently stands at $375.3 million, providing an interesting glimpse into what Airbus' largest superjumbo customer is paying for its new aircraft. At $234 million, Emirates is receiving a 38% discount off list price, which is not far off the industry standard for the magnitude of the carrier's order.




What's not clear from this figure is if the price of the Engine Alliance GP7200 engines, which list for $16.6 million each, is included in that price. Further, what share of the price includes the extensive interior customization and in-flight entertainment is also not known, but at the price Nimrod is paying, you begin to get a rough sense of the share that revenue that actually goes back to Airbus.

• en général, aujourd'hui, les moteurs sont 'vendus' ou 'mis en leasing' sous leurs propres contrats, et les motoristes et Lessors, le cas échéant, font leurs 'montages' entre eux ;
  
• il y a des contrats spécifiques entre les motoristes et les acquéreurs qui font leurs 'acquisitions' ou contrats (sur base 'power-by-the-hour') ;
  
• bien sûr, il peut y avoir des accords du type "TotalCare" (entre les motoristes et les acquéreurs), qui soient séparés ou intégrés à la command-moteurs principale, .... ou aménagés de manière appropriée, pour couvrir tous les angles et axes contractuels, s'il y a des Lessors dans les circuits ;
  
• bien entendu, on peut mettre une dernière touche, concernant les moteurs, si jamais les premiers montages cèdent la place à une opération de 'vente et lease-back' !
  

Il y a surement des spécialistes parmi nos membres, qui peuvent améliorer sensiblement mes vulgarisations rudimentaires ci-dessus !

Airbus Readies A350 Engine For Flight Testing on A380
Airbus is about to begin flight trials of the Rolls-Royce TrentXWB on the A380.

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It is the first time the A380 will serve as an engine flying testbed for another program. Rolls and Airbus had committed to flying the engine before year-end.

The flight test aircraft is MSN001, powered by Trent 900s.

Once the TrentXWB flight trials are complete, the Trent 900 will be reinstalled and the aircraft will return to the A380 program.

Upgraded Rolls-Royce Trent 900 enters production

A first phase of performance improvements for the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 will enter production by the end of this year, clearing the way for enhanced engines providing a 1% cut in specific fuel consumption (SFC) to be fitted to new-build Airbus A380s from early-2012.

The package one improvements use technology borrowed from the Trent 1000 and Trent 700EP programmes and introduce elliptical (rather than "circular arc") leading edges (ELE) for intermediate- and high-pressure compressor blades and vanes, as well as reduced low-pressure turbine tip clearances, said the UK manufacturer.

"With the improvements we've made, we've delivered a 1% improvement in SFC, which is being delivered to customers now," said Rosie Toogood, Trent 900 programme director. "More than half of these improvements are retrofittable," she added, either on-wing or during shop visits.

A second tranche of improvements is due to be made available for the Trent 900 in 2013, using further technologies developed for the Trent 1000 and Trent XWB, such as an optimised air system and improved turbine case cooling for better performance retention.

"We're targeting an up to 0.8% improvement through these modifications," said Toogood. Phase two also incorporates optimised fan blade tip clearances, improved sealing in the low-pressure turbine and ELEs for engine section stators, she added.

Peter Johnston, R-R head of Airbus marketing, said: "The [package one] 1% means the engine meets specification, and in fact puts it a little bit ahead, and then the [package two] 0.8% is even better."

He added: "It's nice that the world's airlines are really focusing on the A380 again as the economy starts to come back a bit this year."

The three-shaft Trent 900 powered the first A380 to enter service, with Singapore Airlines in 2007, and the engine now equips 30 aircraft in service with the Singapore flag-carrier, Qantas Airways and Lufthansa. The powerplant - offered for the A380 in competition with the Engine Alliance GP7200 - has accumulated around 945,000 flying hours during 103,000 engine cycles, said Toogood.

The simulator will be delivered to the British Airways Flight Training Center, Cranebank, located near London's Heathrow Airport, in January 2013, and will initially be used to provide advance training for BA pilots and aircrew in readiness for the entry into service of the first tranche of BA's new A380 aircraft later in 2013, Thales said.

The A380 simulator will be built at Thales U.K.’s Crawley facility.

Hong Kong Airlines eyes Qantas A380 slots

Hong Kong Airlines is discussing with Airbus to take over the A380 slots that were previously filled by Australia's Qantas Airways.

Earlier this year, Qantas deferred its order for six A380s, which it was due to receive in 2014, to be delivered between 2018 and 2012.

The aircraft may be taken over by Hong Kong Airlines, which is keen to order the aircraft to increase its capacity on its long-haul routes, said an industry source close to the company.

This may be part of a bigger order for 10 A380s, which was placed by China's HNA Group, Hong Kong Airlines' parent company that also owns mainland carrier, Hainan Airlines.

The remaining A380s may be placed with Hong Kong Airlines or operated by Hainan Airlines itself, the source said.

Airbus said at the Paris Airshow in June this year it had signed a tentative agreement for 10 A380s with an undisclosed customer.

Sources later told Flightglobal the customer was Hong Kong Airlines, although neither the carrier nor the airframer confirmed the information.