Thai London superjumbo plans set back a year

[webfact]

Phuket News:
Thai London superjumbo plans set back a year

BANGKOK: -- Plans by Thai Airways International to begin flying the A380 superjumbo jet airliner to London in December have been set back by at least 11 months.

Thai Airways confirmed the delay in a low-key press release posted on its UK website.

“Thai Airways regrets to announce that due to important technical modifications, the A380 will not be able to commence its operation on the Heathrow-Bangkok route as planned from Dec 1, 2013,” the statement said.

“Tentative operational date has been set on Oct 30, 2014.”

According to the airline, the blow to THAI operations is the fault of the manufacturer, Airbus. Because of assembly and construction problems with the aircraft, Airbus must modify the wing tips to prevent cracking.

The assembly line delay is because of what Airbus calls “wing rib feet modifications”. The company hopes the design and assembly changes will prevent further problems with cracks in the wings.

THAI took delivery of its first A380 last September, and began using the aircraft immediately on flights to Singapore and Hong Kong.

THAI has already received four A380s from an order of six of the long-haul planes. The planes also serve Paris, Tokyo and Frankfurt. The two outstanding deliveries are due to fly to London and Sydney.

Because of the delays in the delivery of the next A380, the airline has been forced to acquire several A330 jetliners to ensure services.

The overnight flight to London reportedly may switch to an A340-600.

The delay puts THAI at a disadvantage with competitors. For now, Thai Airways must continue to use its older and often criticised Boeing 747s on the London flights, while other airlines have upgraded aircraft and interiors to attract more flyers.

Meanwhile, the airline plans to open more routes mainly to Japan during its winter schedule, starting October. To take advantage of the introduction of visa-free entry for Thais going to Japan.

The airline’s commercial department senior executive vice president, Chokchai Panyayong, said, “Japan has waived visas for Thais and this is an advantage for the airline business. When coupled with a weak yen, travel costs are down between 17 and 20 per cent… it is our plan to open more destinations.”

“THAI will open flights to Sendai and Hiroshima with three flights weekly to build the market and then increase to five or more daily by next January,” he said.

Flights to Sapporo will increase from three to daily in October to serve Thai passengers during a peak travel season in Thailand (due to school holidays).


-- Phuket News 2013-07-26

[Redhawk]

The times Thai Airways was a competetive airline are long gone, bad service, überhöhte exorbitant prices and arrogant personal. Just a small prove that it won't take time another 10 month, this can be done in a D-Check! As usual the guilty party are not to be found here!

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/easa-details-wing-rib-fix-timelines-for-a380-fleet-384660/

[lee b]

I agree with you

[NanLaew]

I guess sleepy old Phuket just got this old news?

There's already a bitch and moan session thread on this running here. Maybe it's not in the right forum?

If Redhawk had browsed the same website a little deeper, he would have read this

Specifically note that;

"Aircraft delivered from next year will be delivered with wings built to a revised wing structure and will not need repairs after delivery. In the interim, new-build A380s with the original wing specification are having repairs undertaken prior to delivery."

THAI's newest big birds are already in assembly so are getting the retrofit before they get delivered. Sorry about that.

[jzika1]

The times Thai Airways was a competetive airline are long gone, bad service, überhöhte exorbitant prices and arrogant personal. Just a small prove that it won't take time another 10 month, this can be done in a D-Check! As usual the guilty party are not to be found here!

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/easa-details-wing-rib-fix-timelines-for-a380-fleet-384660/

D-Check... you really don't know what you are talking about, do you... for one, these are aircraft that have not been delivered yet. the delay is from production, not operational aircraft.

And for the record, none of the Thai A380s would be due for C checks for at least 3 years! D checks would be twice that or more out. And, a D check can take 6 months to complete.

Airbus is doing design changes to aircraft under production which is the cause of this and all 2013/2014 delivery delays.

[vijer]

The times Thai Airways was a competetive airline are long gone, bad service, überhöhte exorbitant prices and arrogant personal. Just a small prove that it won't take time another 10 month, this can be done in a D-Check! As usual the guilty party are not to be found here!

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/easa-details-wing-rib-fix-timelines-for-a380-fleet-384660/

D-Check... you really don't know what you are talking about, do you... for one, these are aircraft that have not been delivered yet. the delay is from production, not operational aircraft.

And for the record, none of the Thai A380s would be due for C checks for at least 3 years! D checks would be twice that or more out. And, a D check can take 6 months to complete.

Airbus is doing design changes to aircraft under production which is the cause of this and all 2013/2014 delivery delays.

All in all it doesn't seem like that should delay delivery by 11 months. So it does seem a little suspicious.

[NanLaew]

The times Thai Airways was a competetive airline are long gone, bad service, überhöhte exorbitant prices and arrogant personal. Just a small prove that it won't take time another 10 month, this can be done in a D-Check! As usual the guilty party are not to be found here!

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/easa-details-wing-rib-fix-timelines-for-a380-fleet-384660/

D-Check... you really don't know what you are talking about, do you... for one, these are aircraft that have not been delivered yet. the delay is from production, not operational aircraft.

And for the record, none of the Thai A380s would be due for C checks for at least 3 years! D checks would be twice that or more out. And, a D check can take 6 months to complete.

Airbus is doing design changes to aircraft under production which is the cause of this and all 2013/2014 delivery delays.

All in all it doesn't seem like that should delay delivery by 11 months. So it does seem a little suspicious.

Read the articles. When the A380's biggest SINGLE customer already has 35 of the things, orders in place for another 23 and a plan for a final fleet of 90 by 2017, one can safely assume that the production-line wing modifications as well as the four global facilities handling the modifications on the ones already flying are pretty busy with servicing their biggest SINGLE customer's aircraft first. Plus there's all sorts of financial breaks and incentives that Airbus must be doling out to the smaller customers (like THAI) who have to absorb the losses associated with these delays.

Edited July 26, 2013 by NanLaew

[cigar7]

I'm am using Thai airways out of Frankfurt, which is their A380. I hope the wings don't crack.