Airbus will use the latest programme delay to the A380 to bring forward the target date for delivering fully completed subassemblies from Hamburg.
The programme has been delayed by an average of around three months as Airbus has battled with the transition of production to "Wave 2" aircraft incorporating redesigned wiring harnesses. Just one Wave 2 A380 - for Qantas - has so far reached the power-on milestone and A380 programme chief Mario Heinen says that "the challenge in front of us is to master the next head of version", referring to the first example of an airline's configuration specification. This is not necessarily limited to one per customer, as some airlines like Emirates or Singapore Airlines have several cabin specifications planned for their A380s.
"We have four head of versions to be defined before the end of year and based on the lessons learned from the first we think that this is realistic."
Heinen says a key "step-change" in the industrial process will be the switch from having incomplete fuselage subsections delivered from Hamburg to the Toulouse assembly line to "the normal process" of delivering completed sections. "This will eliminate the inefficient and resource-consuming travelled, out-of-sequence work," he adds.
This change was initially planned for the middle of 2009, but "for the price of putting some time into the schedule" will now take place earlier in the year, says Heinen.
Of the 17 assembled A380s in Toulouse and Hamburg in early May, 12 are in Toulouse and the other five in Hamburg undergoing cabin installation and painting. The latter comprises two SIA aircraft and the first for Qantas - which will be flown back to Toulouse for delivery - and two for Emirates, which will undertake acceptance flying at the German site as it is responsible for the delivery process of aircraft for European and Middle East customers.
In Toulouse, the A380s undergoing rewiring and testing are further aircraft destined for Emirates, Qantas and SIA, while the first Air France aircraft (MSN033) is assembled and hangared awaiting a position on the line for its work to begin.
The next two A380s in Toulouse ready to fly are for Emirates and Qantas and are awaiting slots in the Hamburg completion centre.
Source: Flight International
