Flight International – 11 June 2019

28 | Flight International | 11-17 June 2019 flightglobal.com

PARIS

Special report

A

irbus will enter this year’s aero-
nautical salon at Le Bourget for the
first time with the A380 represent-
ing a part of its history rather than
its future. Centre stage at the major air shows
for much of the past 15 years – physically, if
not in terms of business activity – the aircraft
has been a symbol of the airframer’s struggle
to prove itself a true match for US manufac-
turer Boeing.
With its A320 family, Airbus achieved
undeniable success. But it coveted a twin-
aisle aircraft range that could challenge its
rival at all levels, including the high-capacity

sector Boeing had monopolised for more

than three decades.

This year, though, Airbus’s new manage-

ment line-up – at the airframer’s home ground

show – will not be trying to convince audi-

ences of the A380’s market appeal. Gone will

be familiar graphs of projected airport conges-

tion and computer-generated interior configu-

rations. Instead, the leadership team will aim

to demonstrate Airbus’s capacity to compete

in the long-haul sector at a time when its ad-

versary is maintaining its resilience.

Airbus’s newly appointed chief executive,

Guillaume Faury, kept his views on the wide-

body contest brief when the company un-

veiled its first-quarter financial results: “It’s

been a very competitive situation with Boeing

and we expect this to continue.”

Faury was spared inheriting the A380 by

his predecessor Tom Enders who, in Febru-

ary, put an end to Airbus’s ambitions to repli-

cate the success of the 747 with a humbling

decision to cease production of its double-

deck behemoth. But Faury is left with the task

of rethinking and reshaping a long-haul strat-

egy proven, by the demise of Airbus’s flag-

ship, to have been expensively flawed.

Airbus achieved unquestionable success

with the original A330 – more than 1,500 had

been ordered by the end of March this year –

but its focus on the A380 left it vulnerable

to Boeing’s efforts to develop an advanced

DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON

Airbus

Life after the A380

Airbus will be looking beyond its cancelled superjumbo programme at Le Bourget this year,

concentrating instead on other long-haul options to counter the competition from Boeing

One of these is about to leave a big gap in the line-up