Geez, now it's 77L for both legs. Seems that the A380 is getting delayed, again!

Where were you flying to/from ? OZ - NZ ? or elsewhere ? ... Cant remember where i read it but i think EK were going to use the A380 from another route to SYD then AKL so guess that route must be also affected now.

Early Feb, I was hoping to catch the A380 SYD-AKL and back.
EK now flies their 77W nonstop between DXB and SYD (as a result of BKK closure); their flights seem to be full so it's interesting how I read before, 77W can't make it back to DXB without penalty.

I always thought, hey, they're using 77W DXB-JFK, quite similar to SYD in terms of length and tail/head winds. Who knows, maybe EK will 'rip us' all over again, and instead of the 77L we'll see a sleek 77W with their skycruiser seats in Feb

I am thinking of keeping the travel plans unchanged up to the very last day, when I could verify the incoming EK412 is indeed an A380

I'm doing the same as there seems to be no trusting EK nowadays

However in my case i might need to change the plans a week or so before cos of the availability ... In any case they might've just changed the allocation of their A380's ... it could be that they now just want to have the A380 here thrice weekly

I am no expert on this but what i have been told is that Emirates have problems with the A380 one of which is related to the showers. It is something to do with the specifc gravity of water and the amount of fuel it takes to fly with all this water and keep it hot. Could be they are looking at resolving this issue hence one reason for the delays.

Excellent post !

While the problem of getting old product B instead of advertised new product A due to aircraft changes/delay in retrofit is not limited to EK by far but it's intensified here due to their many different products in each class segment. And it makes things worse as they are running the high risk of messing around with their most valued customer base, the premium classes pax. It seems that in case of EK, a big product variety and its efficiency has economically outweighed the number of lost, frustated passengers (in the past at least).

BTW: My flights DXB-SYD-DXB in early/late Feb still show the A380 aka 'the flying shower'. Lucking man, I selected the right dates :-) : http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...&postcount=308


I drove past the Airbus plant in Hamburg on Thursday to get a glimpse of one of the EK birds but only saw a single Airboss, in QF colours though.

See the post from Emirates777 for the A380 reason. The 5th delivery has been delayed until the end of March.

Can't really blame that one on Emirates

Cheers,
Rick

Yup saw that one

But actually got a couple of related queries as my interest in flying / airlines has just started recently so i must've missed out on the following questions/answers ...

I was wondering why is it that EK -being the largest A380 customer -is getting such delayed service from Airbus ?

I understand that there can be manufacturing and other delays but it's strange how a multi-million dollar product gets so badly delayed and a customer who's order is in excess of a few billion dollars gets shafted like this !

Also given EK's large order why was Singapore Air the launch Airline and seems to be getting it's A380's on time or less delayed ?

Thanks

Both Boeing and Airbus are experiencing delays to their new plane programs and both for similar reasons. They are building new planes with new materials and complex manufacturing processes and complex supply relationships (even the 777 has been experiencing delivery delays because of problems delivering the galleys). The Boeing 787 program is also delayed at this point, and I'm not sure where the A350 program is, but it appears to be in slightly better shape than the 787 (probably having learned from the A380 problems).
As mentioned above, it's a big complex product, and new to-boot.
Emirates ordered their planes first, but decided not to be the launch customer, SQ agreed to be the launch customer. SQ ordered fewer planes, and as a result, they are less likely to be as affected. By all accounts the delivery of the A340-500 (and 600) was a bit of a botched job, and I suspect Airbus was trying to rebuild its relationship with SQ. Airbus had to go back to the airlines that ordered the planes, and agree re-delivery. Virgin, for example, delayed their deliver until 2013 (I think), but originally in the first delivery tranche.

This is my understanding of the situation, biggest order doesn't mean first - the risk is much higher for Emirates than it is for SQL (I suspect that SQ's planes were deeply discounted). There are also (complex) agreements on marketing for new planes, and as I said, it's not as simple as biggest order = first delivery.

Emirates WAS the launch customer, initially confirming their intent on 24th July 2000. They just elected to take their aircraft second. Singapore Airlines were actually 4th airline to order, second being Air France and third being ILFC (International Lease Finance Corporation).

Well, there you go (knew I should have got my facts right before posting!)

Sorry if this is old news, but does anyone know whether EK1 is now using the A380? I am booked on it in J later this month and it is showing as A380 - I am hoping it is actually in service, having read about the delays.

Starts tomorrow (in theory)

Thnx ^

Why? I fly in F a fair number of times a month and am allways changing my plans and routes for that matter and never have to pay cancellation or rebooking fees!!

I tried the showers once and never again!! You better off having either a shoer in the comfort of your own home, hotel or when in terminal 3 get a room with a shower at the F lounge much better idea. They should scrap the shower and have a bar like VS.