Bristol Business News

Hairline cracks detected in wing components of the A380, the world’s largest airliner, appear to have been caused during construction at the planemaker’s Broughton factory in North Wales.

Airbus, which designs and part builds the wings for all its airliners at Filton, says unexpected additional stresses imparted by the manufacturing process are responsible.

As a result, the company is in the process of changing the way the wings are made and has developed a fix for affected aircraft, as the European Aviation Safety Agency prepares to instruct operators to conduct precautionary inspections.

Airbus emphasises that the cracking problem – while needing to be addressed, to avoid longer-term issues – is not a safety risk in the short- to medium-term. Airbus makes the A380 wings at Broughton before transferring them to the Toulouse final assembly line.

A wing specialist on the A380 told Flightglobal that Airbus investigations indicated some parts were being stressed at a point during the manufacturing process which involves drawing the wing skin over the built-up rib and spar assembly before attaching it.

In these circumstances it is possible to get unexpected standing stresses which translate into additional loading during flight, said the specialist. Airbus is understood to have already conducted verification flights to measure actual loading and found that its original design calculations are correct.

“We’ve confirmed that ordinary flight loads are exactly as predicted,” the specialist said, adding that the components’ design will remain “completely unchanged”.

Airbus insists that the cracks are “nothing of concern” and will only need to be addressed over a period of years rather than urgently, it expects EASA to release an airworthiness directive instructing operators to carry out inspections – although the precise extent of these has yet to be disclosed.

“In the long term it would have to be fixed, but in the short term it’s not a problem,” the specialist told Airglobal.

The cracks were originally discovered in the rib feet of the Qantas A380 which suffered an uncontained engine failure in November 2010, and has since been under repair in Singapore.

Airbus said it is confident that the crack problems, originally only noticed as a consequence of the Qantas repair, would easily have been detected during a later heavy check, even if it had not been identified during earlier routine maintenance.

Bristol Business News

The European Aviation Safety Agency has issued an air worthiness directive ordering airlines to inspect Airbus’ A380 superjumbos following the discovery of hairline cracks on the wing components of two planes.

Two different cracks have been identified on the same metal component inside the superjumbo’s wing although Airbus says the cracks do not affect the airliner’s safety.

The European planemaker, which designs and part builds the wings for all its airliners at Filton, said in a statement: “Airbus confirms that some additional cracks have been found on a limited number of non-critical brackets inside the wings of some A380s.”

It says that in line with the European Aviation Safety Agency, an inspection and repair scheme has been established, adding: “Airbus emphasises that these cracks do not affect the safe operation of the aircraft. Airbus is working closely with the air worthiness authorities and its customers.”

A spokesman for the European Aviation Safety Agency confirmed  on Friday it would issue an air-worthiness directive, requiring airlines to make inspections of A380s over a certain age, but did not give precise details.

“The rationale behind these inspections is to get more evidence on these different cracks that have been identified on a limited number of aircraft, to see if there is a trend,” he added.

After significant production problems and major cost overruns, the first A380 entered service in 2007. A total of 68 A380s have now been delivered to seven airlines.

Emirates Airline, the Dubai-based carrier, is the biggest A380 operator. Airbus said the other carriers operating the A380 are Air France-KLM, China Southern Airlines, Lufthansa, Korean Airlines and Singapore Airlines.

An engine failure on a Qantas A380 in 2010 prompted the Australian airline to temporarily ground its superjumbos. Subsequently Rolls-Royce, which made the Trent 900 engine on the airliner, reached an out of court settlement with the Australian airline.

Bristol Business News

Airbus, which designs and part-builds the wings for its airliners at Filton, has increased the catalogue prices of its commercial jets by an average of 3.9% – but is nudging up the price of its re-engined A320neo family of medium-haul, single-aisle jets by a bigger margin.

This is to take advantage of the surge in demand for the new planes, whose Filton-designed Sharklet wing-tips help make it more fuel-efficient than its rivals.

Prices of the A320neo have gone up by 6.1% on average with Airbus Chief Operating Officer-Customers John Leahy saying this reflected robust demand for the plane, which racked up 1,226 firm orders last year, or three-quarters of Airbus’s record total order intake.

Mr Leahy said: “On the A320neo versions, the catalogue prices will be raised by another $2m (£1.23bn).”

The average 3.9% price increase is smaller than last year’s 4.4%  which Airbus said was necessary to offset mounting industrial investments and the weak dollar that made Airbus less competitive compared with its American rival Boeing.

The A320 family now ranges in price from $67.7m (£44m) to $103.6m (£67m), while the new-engine versions will cost between $88.8m (£57.5m) and $113.3m (£73.3m). Prices of wide-bodied aircraft are also going up by 3.9% on average but the price tag on a double-decker A380 superjumbo has been pegged at $389.9m (£252.5m).

Bristol Airport

Bristol Business News

Passenger numbers at Bristol Airport rose for the second successive year in 2011 despite challenging economic conditions.

The rise was modest – just 0.8% to a total of 5.7m, but overall the airport continued to grow its market share within the region while maintaining its ranking as the UK’s fifth largest airport outside London. It is also forecasting further growth this year.

High points included a record September which saw 610,000 people pass through the terminal. December also saw a significant 8.8% gain over the same month in 2010, driven by a double digit increase (10.8%) in scheduled international traffic.

New airlines in 2011 included Blue Islands (to Jersey) and Helvetic Airways (to Zurich). Aer Lingus also launched three daily flights to Dublin, with onward connections to four US destinations while KLM added a fourth daily flight to its Amsterdam hub.

Significantly, the rise in passengers at Bristol Airport was achieved with fewer flights. The total number of air transport movements was down by 4.1% – a decrease of almost 3,000, indicating that airlines are operating with high load factors on larger aircraft and thus maximising environmental efficiency.

Airport aviation director Shaun Browne said: “Despite challenging conditions in the aviation sector and the wider economy, Bristol maintained its position as the UK’s fifth largest airport outside London. We saw signs of recovery in the business travel market, and tour operators and airlines continued to offer great value flight and holiday options. We expect these trends to continue throughout 2012, and forecast a third successive year of growth.

“Our key targets remain securing services to Germany and Scandinavia, and we will continue making the business case for these vital links in our discussions with existing and potential airline partners.”

Work began on the construction of three new aircraft stands in November – the first phase of development plans which, when completed, will enable the airport to handle 10m passengers annually. Additional capacity is also being added to the security search area ahead of the summer season to ensure the efficiency of this vital process is maintained during peak travel periods.

Bristol Business News

Airbus, which delivered its 7,000th airliner earlier this month, looks set to end 2011 with 1,600 orders pushing US rival Boeing to its lowest market share in 40 years.

The European planemaker, whose airliner wings are designed and part-built in Filton, is expected to sell more aircraft than Boeing for the nine successive year with a total not far short of 530 aircraft.

This year’s lead is particularly pronounced because of demand for the revamped version of its 150-seat A320neo jetliner which will deliver fuel savings of 15%. Underlying Airbus orders are higher still at 1,609 including a previously announced 80-plane deal with Republic Airways that did not immediately enter the order book. That leaves 174 provisional A320neo orders still to be confirmed, many of which may trickle through in coming days judging by a pattern of chasing deadlines in previous years.

Boeing has landed 894 orders so far this year but fell behind its European rival as it hesitated over whether to match the A320neo or build a more ambitious new aircraft at the expense of near-term sales. It chose the first option by launching the 737 MAX.”For nine months as Boeing hesitated, they left the A320neo almost alone on the market,” Louis Gallois, chief executive of Airbus parent EADS, told analysts earlier this week.

The only doubt is whether Boeing will achieve a 40% market share in 2011, the lower end of a 40-60 band that many analysts regard as the framework for a stable duopoly. At present, it has a volume share of 37% and would need to sell more than 180 aircraft by the end of December to claw back a 40% share – and this is unlikely as Airbus is expected to close more deals.

However, Boeing has almost 800 provisional contracts for the 737 MAX waiting to be completed, including 462 for which the names of the buyers have not yet been disclosed. The bulk are expected to slip beyond the New Year giving the company a head start for what many analysts expect to be a bounce-back in 2012. The US planemaker has done better in value terms – thanks to its dominance of the wide-body market – after more than 200 orders for its 777. The wide-body airliner has benefited from the inability of Airbus to configure a suitably attractive offering of its new (and largest) version of the medium-sized long-range A350-1000, due to go into service in 2017.

Meanwhile the two companies are competing for a $16bn order for around 180 aircraft from United Airlines early next year, including possibly 130 of the latest generation of revamped A320neos or 737 MAX.

From left, Shirley Knight (travel trade development executive, Bristol Airport), Bruno Jans (CEO, Helvetic Airways), Robert Sinclair (CEO, Bristol Airport) and Francesca Bizon (marketing executive, Bristol Airport)

Helvetic Airways yesterday became the twelfth scheduled airline operating from Bristol Airport when it launched a new route linking Zurich, Switzerland’s financial centre, with the South West.

Helvetic passengers benefit from seven days free of charge in the long stay car park until the end of January.

Helvetic Airways has also announced a ‘skis go free’ offer on all winter flights from Bristol to Zurich.  The winter sports equipment offer covers one pair of ski boots, one pair of ski poles, and a pair of skis or a snowboard.  Advance notice must be given by contacting the Helvetic Airways service centre on +41 44 270 8500 or by emailing info@helvetic.com.  Skiers are advised to check in their equipment no later than one hour before desks close.

Airbus is to create 200 jobs at Filton due to demand for its new A350 airliner, it confirmed yesterday.

The plane, which will use lightweight composite wings designed and part-built in Bristol, was due to come into service in 2013 but has been delayed to the first half of 2014.

Airbus has more than 550 orders from airlines for the A350 – which can carry 340 passengers.

The announcement came as Business Secretary Vince Cable was visiting Airbus this morning to talk about a conditional offer of funding from the government’s £1.4bn Regional Growth Fund which was announced last month.

Airbus head of engineering at Filton Neil Scott told Bristol Business News the engineers being recruited will work on the next generation of the A350, on further refining the A380 superjumbo – world’s latest passenger plane – and on helping creating the A320neo, which will use Filton-designed fuel-saving wing tips.

He also opened the multimillion-pound National Composites Centre in Bristol, which claims it will speed up new products going from the laboratory to the shop-floor.

Mr Cable told Insider Media: “The South West is becoming a real hub for composites and aerospace manufacturing, and is exactly the sort of place where targeted government support through schemes like the Regional Growth fund, can have a real benefit.

“By helping companies large and small unlock their potential for growth, we can make sure that we rebalance the economy and emerge with a stronger and more diverse industrial base.”

Bristol Business News

Strong demand for its fuel-efficient A320neo aircraft helped planemaker Airbus secure 211 orders and commitments worth $20.5bn (£13bn) at the Dubai Airshow.

The success of the A320neo (new engine option), which is now the fastest-selling airliner ever, is a major boost for engineers at Airbus’s Filton plant who designed its pioneering ‘sharklet’ wing tips which cut fuel use.

Airbus’s Dubai order intake includes 135 firm orders worth $13.7billion (£8.7bn) for 130 A320neo and five A380 superjumbos – a tally that helps position underpin the European firm’s lead position in both the single-aisle, short-haul market with the A320 and jumbo, long-range market with the A380. The superjumbo’s wings, fuel system and landing gear were designed at Filton. Wing sections for all Airbus aircraft are built by GKN Aerospace on the same site.

Qatar Airways made the single largest firm order (50 A320neo and five A380s) while there were also firm orders for the A320neo from aircraft leasing firms ALAFCO (50) and ACG (30), which Airbus says demonstrates the A320neo’s strong investment appeal by lessors.

Spirit Airlines made the largest commitment at the show for 75 A320 Family aircraft – 45 A320neos and 30 A320 with sharklets.

The A320neo, which is scheduled to enter into service from 2015, incorporates latest generation engines and large sharklets which together will deliver 15% in fuel savings. The A320neo has more than 95% airframe commonality making it an easy fit into airlines’ existing fleets while it also has up to 500 nautical miles (950 kilometres) more range or two tonnes more payload at a given range. The neo has now achieved 1,420 orders and commitments less than a year after launch.

Meanwhile the A380, typically seating 525 passengers in a three-class layout, can fly 8,300 nautical miles/15,300 kilometres non-stop. More than 16m passengers have already flown on the aircraft, total orders for which now stand at more than 243 from 18 customers.

Bristol Business News

Boeing upped its challenge to arch-rival Airbus today by sealing its largest-ever commercial aircraft order – a potential $26bn deal which gives it the lead in the lucrative global market for wide-bodied commercial airliners.

The US planemaker signed the agreement with Emirates for 50 365-seat 777-300ER jets with an option for a further 20 at the Dubai Air Show.

The deal extends the existing strong relationship between Boeing and the fast-growing airline in the wide-body market, where profit margins are larger, and leaves Airbus struggling to recover from Friday’s announcement that it is further delaying commercial deliveries of a variant of its yet-to-fly A350 XWB (extra wide body). The aircraft’s wings and landing gear have been designed by Airbus engineers at Filton and wing parts will be manufactured on the same site by GKN.

The 314-seat A350-900 will not now be available to airliners until 2014 – around six months later than intended. The delay came four months after Airbus admitted the larger, 350-seat A350-1000, which competes directly with the 777 and was due to enter service in 2015, will not do so until 2017.

Emirates president Tim Clark has been critical of the A350-1000, reportedly saying the plane is heavy and risks falling short of performance requirements. His comments, and similar remarks from other airline bosses, have prompted Airbus engineers at Filton to seek ways of reducing the weight of the wings, which are made from composite materials.

John Strickland, a director at aviation advisors JLS Consulting, told Bloomberg: “It’s early days for the A350, but [Airbus] will need to take Emirates’ views into their design work as Boeing has had to do for the 777 if they want to be confident of large future orders from the carrier.”

Airbus says its revamped A350-1000 design will be 25% more fuel efficient and carry 4.5 tonnes of additional weight.

Airbus’s order tally for the A350 family remains impressive, with 373 for the A350-900 model, 119 for the smaller A350-800 and 75 for the A350-1000. Emirates has 70 orders pending for the plane, of which 20 are for the largest type.

Airbus maintains a healthy lead over Boeing in new business wins so far this year with 1,038 orders for new aircraft compared to Boeing’s 426- thanks mainly to strong demand for its A320 neo, the fuel efficient single-aisle, short-haul airliner now in development. Its pioneering fuel ‘sharklet’ wing tips, designed by its Filton engineers, are a major selling point. Airbus is also dominating the ‘superjumbo’ section of the market with its 525-seat A380 outselling Boeing’s 747.

Meanwhile Airbus’ latest Global Market forecast shows that carriers in the Middle East will require 1,921 new passenger and freighter aircraft (above 100 seats) between 2011 and 2030 valued at US$347.4bn. Of these, 1,882 are passenger aircraft (US$336.3bn) and 39 are freighter aircraft (US$11.1bn).

The forecast says that globally, there is a move towards larger aircraft in all size categories to help absorb growing passenger numbers despite infrastructure constraints. The Gulf region is already the world’s busiest for the world’s most advanced aircraft, the double-deck A380, and this will continue to increase.

Bristol Business News

Combined total orders on the books of Airbus for its commercial jetliners now stand at 11,291, new figures show.

The figures are good news for the European planemaker’s giant Filton plant where its wings – and range-enhancing ‘sharklet’ wingtips – are designed and partially made in association with GKN.

Deliveries in October were led by the 36 of its A320 single-aisle airliners to customers worldwide and also included five A330s and three A380 superjumbos.

Middle East airline Emirates received two of the month’s A380s – some 238 are now on order – while the third was the first superjumbo delivered to China Southern Airlines.

Airbus’ assembly backlog reached a record 4,365 aircraft in October – mostly accounted for by bookings for the best-selling A320 family which reached 8,113.

Some 1,058 of these are for the fast-selling A320neo (new engine option) variant, launched in late 2010, which boasts the Filton-designed, fuel-saving sharklets.