bigjku wrote:Arion640 wrote:KarelXWB wrote:
Actually, the first production aircraft are already rolling off the assembly line.
Of course, Airbus does not suggest A339 is a MOM aircraft, it clearly pitches the A338 for that role, hence Boeing targets the latter.
F-WWCP A330-900 NEO Air Portugal by @Eurospot, on Flickr
ahh well there we are, so I'm not sure why everyone thinks the A330neo will be shelved because 6 orders have been cancelled.
I don’t think anyone would think the whole thing will be dumped. There is a possibility that there is a relatively small number sold going forward. The A340-500/600 only delivered frames for around 8-9 years. I don’t think it’s unrealistic to say it’s possible that the A330neo has a short production run. Airbus has already cut its production targets by 40% from the stated goal at program start. That isn’t a great sign and it raises the per frame cost.
And they may not have as much control over he pricing as one might think. Engine cost is likely in line with 787 or A350 engines in broad terms. Hell the list price of the engines is a $25 million plus add on to the cost of the plane. Your hourly labor rates are likely similar for all aircraft. CFRP is dropping in cost while aluminum is steady or rising over the past few years.
I don’t think we can really say for sure the A330 is cheap anymore.
I was going on the fact that the thread title is perhaps a bit misleading, when it makes it sound at first glance airbus will kill it before it's even begun. It will like every other aircraft programme to date, be closed down at some point in time.