Last A300 delivered

"I'm the youngest member of the eldest Airbus family." Picture from Airliners.net

The last ever Airbus A300 was delivered today to FedEx, making a total of 821 Airbus A300s and A310s ordered. The A300 was launched in May 1969, with the first airplane entering commercial service with Air France in May 1974. It was the first wide-body, twin-engine aircraft, and it led to the creation of the A310, which was launched in July 1978 and first flew in April 1983 with Swissair and Lufthansa. FedEx is, according to Airbus, the largest customer for the A300/A310, with more than 120 of the types currently in service. Airbus expects that half of the current fleet of 630 A300/A310s will still be in service beyond the year 2025.

Airbus has also released a short video about the A300.

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Reactions to FedEx's A380 cancelation

After FedEx's decision yesterday (see previous blog post) to cancel its A380 orders because of prolonged delays on Airbus' part, there have not been any other cancellations by other airlines ordering the A380 - as of yet.

Singapore Airlines, which will be the first airline to put the A380 into service, says that it has no plans whatsoever to scrap its order, although it will get its first A380 in October of 2007 instead of December of this year, as originally planned. The airline said that it won't be affected greatly by the delay because it's taking delivery of six Boeing 777-300ERs this month.

FedEx rival UPS, which has ten A380s on order (as well as options on another ten) said that the company isn't rushing to make a decision about whether to cancel its orders or not. "We are not pressed to make a decision," said Chief Executive Officer Mike Eskew. "Our backs are not against the wall on this issue." UPS says that it has enough planes scheduled for delivery in the next few years to avoid any problem.

Airbus company EADS also reported its first quarterly loss in three years earlier today.

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FedEx Dumps Airbus, Goes to Boeing

Cargo delivery giant FedEx announced today that it has canceled its order for 10 A380-800F planes and instead has ordered 15 Boeing 777 (777F) freighters. Notably, this is the first A380 customer that Airbus has lost.

CEO Frederick Smith said, "The availability and delivery timing of this aircraft, coupled with its attractive payload range and economics, make this choice the best decision for Fedex." He went on to say, "Global demand for air cargo and express services continues to grow rapidly and FedEx has made significant investments in our network to meet customers' needs and fulfill our business objectives. Therefore, it was necessary and prudent for us to acquire the Boeing 777 Freighter." Simply put, FedEx needs new planes soon, not later, and if Airbus can't deliver, then they figure that Boeing will.

Right now I'm sure everyone at Boeing headquarters in Chicago is partying, but not the same in Toulouse, France - Airbus headquarters. Airbus has been facing some tough times recently, with Emirates threatening to cancel its order for 43 passenger A380s (the largest customer of the plane to date). Right now, the scheduled first delivery of the A380 to an airline will be in October 2007 - two years behind schedule.

Deliveries of the aircraft to FedEx are expected to start in 2009 and last through 2011. At the time of writing, shares of Airbus parent company EADS fell 3.05% while Boeing shares climbed 5.26%

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