Being reported today on Reuters, Airbus CEO Tom Enders has issued an order for an internal investigation to take place to determine what or who is responsible for the recent issues with the A380.
If you have not read much about these developments, you can get caught up with these previous posts:
Airbus Admits Faults In Design and Manufacturing Are Causing A380’s Problems
Airbus A380 Inspections Are Ordered
I’ll let Reuters give you the details on today’s development since they would do a “slightly” better job!! 🙂
The Reuters Press Release:
(Reuters) – The head of Airbus said he had ordered an internal investigation into how the company allowed wing cracks to develop on its flagship A380 passenger jet as the world’s largest planemaker sought to draw a line under weeks of embarrassing publicity.
Chief Executive Tom Enders reiterated the world’s largest jetliner was safe to fly as engineers repair hairline cracks in the wings, and sought to allay any concerns the setback to Europe’s industrial prestige could spread to the future A350.
“We made a mistake here and we are repairing it as quickly as possible,” Enders said at the Singapore Airshow on Wednesday. “This plane is absolutely safe to fly.”
“Are we learning from this? Absolutely. We are taking lessons from the A380 program for the A350 program,” he said, referring to the company’s next project, a mid-sized jetliner designed to compete with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
“We have a thorough investigation underway on how we could make these mistakes in the first place and to eradicate the sources of the mistakes,” he said.
A series of announcements about the cracks, which Airbus and regulators say do not affect parts critical to safety, has embarrassed Airbus and overshadowed Enders’ appointment to run parent EADS from June.
After initially underestimating public concern about teething problems on the double-decker plane, Airbus has given detailed briefings on parts and manufacturing errors. An Airbus spokesman said it had given information as it became available.
Enders declined to comment on a German media report that the slip-up could cost Airbus 100 million euros ($131.3 million) to fix, but acknowledged it was likely to be “a bit of money.”
Airbus officials say the cracks affect an average of five out of 2,000 aluminum alloy brackets per wing. Airbus is expected to have to pay for the repairs and airline downtime.
A senior industry official, asking not to be identified, said the cost would be secondary. “Airbus will get this right. It’s not about money. It’s about credibility and confidence.”
Airbus reaffirmed its 2012 delivery target of 30 A380s.
BOEING ALSO HIT
Rival Boeing said this month it found a process called “delamination” on part of the rear fuselage of its carbon-composite 787 Dreamliner, somewhat akin to the cracking on a metal structure, but harder to detect.
Boeing has said it is carrying out inspections and has worked out how to fix the aircraft waiting to be delivered.
The A350 is also being built of carbon materials.
Boeing confirmed a record order for 230 planes from Lion Air, whose founder hit back at questions over whether the Indonesian low-cost carrier could afford them.
“People should understand that they should not look down on somebody in the Third World. Just because we are businessmen from the Third World, doesn’t mean we can’t afford them,” airline Chief Executive Rusdi Kirana told Reuters.
Indonesia’s domestic market grows at 20 per cent a year.
Rival Garuda Indonesia will go ahead with a plan to boost its fleet size to 154 aircraft from 89 in three years, despite the threat of overcapacity arising from Lion Air’s large order, its chief executive said.
The remarks came as the flag carrier finalized a $1.32 billion deal including 6 Bombardier CRJ1000 regional jets.
Orders were otherwise thin after a flurry at the end of last year. But Airbus unveiled a surprise deal with Singapore’s ST Aerospace and EADS EFW of Germany to convert A330 jetliners into cargo planes, giving them a second lease of life hauling goods.
Qatar Airways Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker has criticized Airbus for ignoring this market and is likely to be wooed as a potential buyer.
China and other Asia-Pacific nations will take delivery of 9,370 jetliners over 20 years, valued at $1.3 trillion, helping to power the industry’s growth, Airbus said on Wednesday. ($1 = 0.7616 euros)
Woah! In both cases, these major air-framers will find and fix their problems. Both aircraft and first-off and seriously new technology. Both are as well designed and made as is humanly possible, but construction issues are expected. The key here is to idenfity potential problems before the cause problems – and FIX THEM. Both AirBus and Boeing are doing that and very quickly. Both of them want to keep their leading aircraft in the active sales market. A crash – traced to a mechanical or structural fault with either of these airplanes and at this point in their history, could easily kill the model and possibly the company. They simply will not allow unsound airplanes to fly! Think about it! An A380 crashes with the loss of 400-500 souls. The cause is eventually traced to a defective wing support structure. The A380 is essentially toast and EADS might not survive. Of course they are monitoring the airplanes closely! With only 65 (maybe 68?) delivered, they get very close inspections! No one has ever before built a commercial wing of that size. Might there be issues and potential faults? Hell yes! Boeing’s 787 is the first to use a major fraction of composite materials. Are they monitoring the performace of the early in-service airplanes? Hell yes! If the composites of the rear end failed and the back end of a B787 fell off in flight, killing perhaps 300 souls, it could likely kill the 787 program and possibly Boeing itself. These huge air framers are just not that stupid! They are not about to risk themselves, their products of their customer’s client’s lives over potential known defects. Both of these firms are on top of the problems, are developing short and long term fixes for any problems and simply do not allow (known or even suspected) unsafe airplanes to fly. As oversight, the certifying agencies are also uber cautious, especially with new airframes and construction methods. Those hundreds, often thousands of of hours of flight testing serve a worth while purpose and they have improved the products of both firms. That’s why Boeing has 30-40+ airplanes stored at Paine and had delayed so many deliveries! The fix them before they are delivered – and won’t deliver them without the fixes. They cannot afford to do otherwise.