The world’s largest airliner is struggling to stay aloft. Financially, that is. Airlines, it turns out, prefer the fuel efficiency of smaller planes like the Boeing 777 to the pack-em-in capacity of the Airbus A380. As a result, Airbus hasn’t scored any new orders for an A380 in more than a year.
Its big plan to turn things around? Launch a new version, make it cheaper to fly, and slap on some winglets.
This week at the Paris Air Show, Airbus announced the revamped “A380plus,” a refresh that packs even more passengers into the super-jumbo and tweaks the wing design. The upswept winglets found on most modern airliners boost fuel efficiency by eliminating turbulent air vortices at the wingtips, reducing drag and improving aerodynamics.
The winglets stand 15 feet tall, and the design includes downward extensions that add another 4 feet. They could improve fuel efficiency by a significant 4 percent and—along with other improvements—cut operating expenses by 13 percent.
That's crucial if Airbus wants to sell more planes. (The company is currently working through an unimpressive order book of just over 100 airplanes.)
The A380plus crams in 80 more seats by rejiggering the crew rest quarters and ditching the spiral staircase between the two levels in favor of a conventional one. The A380plus will carry 575 passengers in a four-class configuration. In a final play to draw customers, Airbus announced maintenance and inspection requirement changes that will minimize down-time and expense.
“This looks like a last-ditch effort to me,” says Richard Aboulafia, an aviation analyst with the Teal Group. “It's not conceivable that customers who didn't want a very large jet would suddenly change their mind just because of the addition of winglets.”
Still, Aboulafia sees a potential payoff from the aerodynamic tweaks, noting that “it's a bit of a mystery why the winglets weren't included with the original design,” given their well-documented benefits.
It may not win any new customers, but in an industry where every dollar counts, it counts for something.
