Emirates considering ordering 20 747-8

It seems that the A380 delay has been seen as an insult the the UAE Royal family owners of Emirates. Apparently they have initiated negotiations with Boeing for 747-8 and possibly 787-10 and more 777-300ER instead of the A350-900...

www.forbes.com...

Linked fixed... Waynos

[edit on 4-10-2006 by carcharodon]

The link doesn't work for me Carch, could you check it?

I can see the delay to the A380 being seen as expensive, inconvenient or even a pain in the arse, but an insult?? Thats stretching it a bit.

Also all airlines consider all alternatives, its how they negotiate a good price. Your not going to get a discount if your supplier knows full you will buy from them. Thats was why SIA placed equal orders for both the A350 and the 787, it keeps both manufacturers on their toes.

[edit on 4-10-2006 by waynos]

Thanks Carch

I now see that they aren't feeling insulted by the delay, but by the lack of information. I guess there are a lot more people out there feeling insulted in the same way.

I know that Emirates have been discussing 787 variants for a while now, as well as A350's and that was nothing to do with the A380, but an order for the 747-8I could be seen as 'no big deal' by Airbus if all the A380 orders remain in place. As I posted a few days ago, Lufthansa is also considering operating them alongside their A380's too.

If however such an order were accompanied by a cancellation of A380's, whether all of them or just some them, there would be no denying that it could be disastrous for Airbus and the fear of a 'domino effect' must be present while wondering if an airline will actually pull out of the programme.

I also have been reading rumours that Virgin might be considering switching...
There are only rumours and nothing more, but with the situation like it is who knows.
Maybe Virgin's playboy billionaire would come up with a new slogan to show how cool is to fly the New 747-8 and not the A380. He has made mistakes in it's fleet selection before (they are quite unhappy with the A340-600), so he could become an Everett boy again...

Maybe he will wait for Boeing to buy BAE and call the company an Anglo-American conglomerate

Was that last bit about Boeing buying BAE a joke? Only Boeing are looking to make acquisitions in the UK, but only last year BAE actually bought a chunk of Boeing, it all makes my head spin trying to keep up

There is every chance that the Airlines are behind the rumours themselves, not with a serious intention of cancelling, but to give Airbus a gentle push to get weaving. With rumours anything is possible, though Branson is completely smitten with the A380 in a fanboy sort of way, so I can't see Virgin making a switch.

Actually some Airlines are already moving.
Boeings orders for the week shows 14 new orders for the 747 (they are only receiving orders for the -8). it doesn't say whether they are passenger or cargo orders...
Weird enough they are 5 orders for 767's...

active.boeing.com...

But isn't that just an assumption Carch? I mean, just because Boeing has orders for the 747 doesn't mean anyone has made a switch. The proof would be a cancelled A380 order *from the same airline*.

Well Boeing had stated not so long ago that they didn't expect any orders until 2007 and suddenly, they get 14 just like that...

Cancelations can become official later on...

The only thing is to bet who got cold feet

Carch, thats just not the case though. Boeing hasn't just taken those orders nor did it not expect to take any until 2008, where are you getting this from?

There are 19 orders so far for the 747-8, with other airlines in discussion. They are 8 747-8F's for Nippon Cargo Airlines and 10 747-8F's for Cargolux plus one 747-8I for an undisclosed customer, believed to be a private jet for a rich Arab sheik, that single order was the last one placed so far and was reported on this very site several weeks ago, so you see, these orders haven't suddenly materialised in the wake of further A380 delays as you appear to be thinking. Boeing is still finalising the design of the new 747 model and only two weeks ago decided to offer a stretched passenger model which is closer in capacity to the big Airbus, this in fact uses the same fuselage length that the 8F was always going to have from the start so its not really a stretch as such.


You are also wrong about the orders for the 747, there are 41 on order but only 19 of these are 747-8's, the rest are outstanding 747-400's.

Regarding the 767 orders, nothing bizarre about it, Airbus still has outstanding orders for the A300 too, although the 8 that are on order (for Fed Ex and UPS) will probably be the last new build examples of this type.

[edit on 5-10-2006 by waynos]