747-800 Makes A Brief Entrance At Paris

Airbus bags 20 A380 orders overshadows the Korean Air 747-800 with five craft.


WSJ

"LE BOURGET, France—Airbus got a boost for the flagging fortunes of its A380 superjumbo, as German leasing company Doric GmbH placed a preliminary order for 20 of the two-deck jetliners.

If confirmed, the order would increase by roughly 13% Airbus’s backlog of orders for the giant plane. Doric is the first new buyer of A380s in one year and the announcement is the first A380 order since October, when Singapore Airlines Ltd. raised its order for 19 A380s by five planes.

Monday’s deal carries a catalog price of $8 billion, but large customers can receive discounts exceeding 50%. The companies said that they aim to finalize the contract in coming months."

Are you confused yet, no one should be, since the death of the 747-800 has been greatly exaggerated.  This Boeing order is from a customer who already received both the freight and passenger versions, has now validated its decision to buy the 747-800 in the first place. The trial period is followed by Korean's 5 more 747-800 passenger types ordered during Paris week.  Korean will have 10 747-800 passenger models and 7 747-800F freighters on the order book after final terms are met with both Boeing and Korean Air.  

Customer Endorsement:

 “The economics and reliability of these airplanes, combined with the unique passenger experience, played a big part in our decision,” Walter Cho, Korean Air’s executive vice president of corporate strategy and planning, said at a news conference at the show."

Even though both Airbus and Boeing, have reached a saturation of customer support for its super jumbos at this time. Boeing is counting on a niche fill with the 787-800 in high density markets having airport definition for the Boeing 747. The A380 takes additional airport enhancements, in order to receive such a large aircraft on its runways and jetways. This Boeing Strategy will take some time and may extinguish all together as the demand for Super Jumbos rests, with the onset of  plastic and high tech mini jumbos. The 777X may encroach upon demand for the A380, as it would be more flexible in high density routes landing in non A380 compliant airports, yet bring onboard up to 400 passengers in a fuel efficient configuration which both the A380 and 747-800 could not compete with in range or economies.