First New A380 Order Of The Year

Airbus has received its first new order for the A380 superjumbo, after a third delay to production was announced in October. On Wednesday, Singapore Airlines (SIA) committed to buy nine additional frames, bringing its total to 19 double-decker airliners.

"Singapore Airlines today signed agreements with Airbus for purchase of a further nine A380s, with six more options," the airline stated. Media reports indicate SIA also signed a deal to lease 19 A330-300 twinjets from the manufacturer.

Singapore Airlines is launch customer for the A380. The new order was announced in July of this year -- three months before Airbus confirmed it would have to delay A380 deliveries once again in order to fix a series of stubborn wiring issues.

There was some question after that whether SIA would keep its existing orders -- nevermind order even more planes. Those questions appear to be answered.

"Singapore Airlines also has reached settlement with Airbus on issues relating to delays to deliveries of the A380. The terms of the purchases and settlement are confidential between the parties," SIA said.

In its announcement of the new order, Singapore Airlines also reaffirmed its confidence that Airbus will meet its new target delivery date of October 2007.

"We're looking forward now to delivery in October and commencing services very soon after," said SIA's chief executive officer, Chew Choon Seng. The nine new aircraft are slated to begin delivery in January 2010.

In related news, Airbus CEO Louis Gallois said in no uncertain terms that Airbus will meet its schedule for the A380, despite its less-than- stellar track record in that regard recently.

There will be "absolutely no further delay in A380 deliveries," Gallois told Dow Jones Newswires during a recent press conference.

It appears other airlines may be ready to jump on the A380 bandwagon, as well. After several hints it would cancel its own A380 order, on Tuesday Thai Airways said it is close to ordering six more A380. Those orders, like the SIA announcement, would follow a series of negotiations with Airbus over compensation for delays.

While it's a safe bet that Airbus is not charging affected A380 customers anything near list prices -- and may actually be taking a loss on these planes -- the European planemaker has weathered the latest crisis in confidence with only one cancelled A380 order. By any measure, that's a win.

Even the loss of FedEx's 10 A380 freighter order in November may not prove to be the last word... as FedEx has since hinted it may reorder several planes in a few years, once the A380 program has gotten back on its feet.

FMI: www.airbus.com, www.singaporeairlines.com