Talking of delays one of the biggest storms in aviation is reaching boiling point and could see major aircraft manufacturer Airbus dramatically fall from grace in the next few months. Emirates, the largest Arab airline and one of the industry’s dominant forces, has revealed that it may transfer its US$20bn 45-new plane order to rival Boeing unless it is satisfied with Airbus’s compensation for the massive delays in delivering its A380 ‘superplane’. Emirates says it plans to talk to the Toulouse-based Airbus in the next month or two.
Several outcomes are possible but if Airbus fails to adequately compensate Emirates to the tune of an estimated US$300m (the symbolic cost of an A380) I can only see one conclusion — Airbus losing out dramatically to Boeing with tens of major airlines switching their multi-billion dollar orders to rival Boeing and the French manufacturer eventually going under. As many experts are suggesting, Airbus needs Emirates but Emirates doesn’t need Airbus.
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