Malaysia Airlines Has To Wait Longer For Its A380
Malaysia Airlines and its parent
company, Penerbangan Malaysia Berhad (PMB), have been advised that
the delivery of the six Airbus A380 aircraft will be delayed by an
average of six months, similar to the revised deliveries for all
launch customer airlines of the aircraft.
In a recent letter to PMB and Malaysia Airlines, Airbus
confirmed that the first A380-800 aircraft will be delivered in
July 2007 instead of January 2007 and the last (sixth) aircraft
will be delivered in May 2009.
Airbus also confirmed that it will continue to review the
revised schedule for opportunities to slightly advance the delivery
of some of the ordered aircraft.
PMB and Malaysia Airlines will discuss further with Airbus to
firm up the new delivery dates and in the meantime continue to
observe all Airbus requirements to ensure that the new delivery
deadlines are met.
"We are naturally disappointed with this delay. We are
considering our options on this matter, but will continue to engage
with Airbus to ensure that any inconvenience to our customers and
financial impact to the airline are minimized," said Malaysia
Airlines Executive Director Tengku Azmil Zahruddin.
Contingency options, if necessary, will be also activated to
minimize the impact of the delayed delivery on the airline’s
operations. The contingency plans, amongst others, include
reappraising the aircraft deployment for existing and future routes
as well as the weekly frequencies.
Meanwhile, PMB and Malaysia Airlines will discuss with Airbus on
the compensation for the delayed delivery.
On a positive note, Malaysia Airlines will take advantage of the
revised delivery timings to further enhance and fine-tune its
overall readiness to operate this aircraft by mid-2007.
On 10 Jan 2003, Penerbangan Malaysia Berhad (PMB), the holding
company of Malaysia Airlines, signed a Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) with Airbus to acquire six Airbus A380-800 passenger aircraft
for delivery scheduled to commence in 2007. This was ratified on 11
Dec 2003 when PMB signed a purchase agreement with Airbus for this
acquisition. On 10 Dec 2004 Malaysia Airlines and PMB agreed to the
selection of Rolls Royce Trent 900 Engines for the six Airbus A380
aircraft.