Premium #124 – The A380neo and Engine Selection

The need for airlines operating the A380 to remain competitive was ratcheted up after Boeing announced its 777X program at the Dubai air show, when the region’s airlines all placed orders. The timing and location of Boeing’s launch was not accidental. The Gulf carriers are global leaders in acquiring new aircraft, particularly wide bodies that can serve long-range operations. The Gulf airlines, with miniscule domestic traffic, require the ability to act as hubs on a global scale, connecting from disparate cities through their region to everywhere else.

The A380’s market success to date rests mostly on the orders of one airline, Emirates. With 140 orders to date, it represents 43% of the total A380s order book. Emirates and Airbus have a co-dependency in terms of the A380. Neither can afford the other to fail. The degree to which this is true is such that Emirates’ CEO, Tim Clark, observed at the Doha IATA meeting his airline would keep acquiring A380s even if Airbus did not re-engine the airplane. He told Reuters “If they don’t produce it (A380neo) we will take it under the old version. There is nothing out there that resembles what the A380 can do.”