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SCENE
14
A380 Production Cut
Airbus is again to scale back the A380’s
production rate. The European manufacturer
has announced it will build just eight A380s in
2019, a third less than the 12 it will produce
next year. The company previously slowed
A380 output to 15 jets for 2017, down from
28 in 2016.
The further reduction in the build rate reflects
the A380’s sluggish sales pace. None has
been ordered since early 2016 and the lastlarge repeat order, from Emirates, came nearly
four years ago. With the production rate now
set at 35 aircraft over the next couple of years,
the A380’s backlog will stand at 69 aircraft by
2020 if no further orders are received. Airbus
is trying to raise market interest by studying
new enhancements to the aircraft with the
A380plus.
However, assuming the order backlog remains
largely unchanged, the production rate ofeight jets a month will enable Airbus to extend
A380 production out to the late 2020s. That
will keep the production line open, important if
demand for the aircraft does rise or if the type
were to be re-engined in the future.
The rate cut also reflects an overall lack of
orders for airliners in the A380’s very large
aircraft category. Boeing has likewise struggled
to sell its competing 747-8I and most 747-8s
in its backlog are freighters. Mark BroadbentThe continued sluggish orders rate for the A380 has led Airbus to further cut back annual production to eight jets a year from 2019. P Pigeyre/AirbusM-55 Geophysica’s Asia Flights
Myasishchev M-55 Geophysica 55204 (c/n
80909) recently operated from Kathmandu,
Nepal, in a series of flights to collect
atmospheric data above Asia to contribute
to climate research. Nine research flights
from the end of July to mid-August saw
the M-55 operate above the Himalayas
in Nepal, India and Bangladesh up to an
altitude of 65,616ft (20,000m). The aircraft
was equipped with two fully automated
measuring instruments to collect sulphur
dioxide and nitric oxide readings, and an ion
and trace gas mass spectrometer.
The M-55’s flights were part of the StratoClim
research project, a collaboration of 37
scientific organisations from 15 countries
that aims to understand the development
of aerosol layers in the atmosphere, which
consist of small droplets and dust particles
and can either warm or cool Earth’s surface,
depending on their composition. Project
leader Markus Rex said: “For the first time
we [were] able to study the composition of
the air that reaches the tropopause region
and the stratosphere above the monsoon.”
Mark BroadbentThe M-55 Geophysica taxies in at Kathmandu, Nepal, its operating base for atmospheric
research flights above Asia. DLR