A design flaw at Airbus's Filton plant in Bristol was responsible for the hairline cracks found on the A380 superjumbo jet, the European planemaker has admitted. Executive vice president Tom Williams blamed the material used and said it was an embarrassment that customers had been let down.
Tiny cracks in wing brackets connecting the aircraft's internal structure to its outer skin were discovered following an incident involving a Qantas A380 in November 2010. Subsequently similar faults were discovered on other A380s following an order by the European Aviation Safety Agency to carry out inspections on all 70 superjumbos in service.
Speaking to journalists in the group's Toulouse headquarters, Mr Williams, Airbus's boss in Britain, admitted mistakes had been made in the choice of material for the brackets and in the way they were designed. He said: "I think we now have a long-term solution from a design point of view. We have now got to develop the design and put it in real components, build and test those because we do not just flick a switch and say 'okay let's turn everything over tonight'".
He added: "The A380 is successful and makes the airlines lots of money but when it's on the ground you have the reverse so it gets to become expensive. It's embarrassing that we have let people down. Certainly, from the workers I have been talking to, they have the same sense. We were wrong and we have got to fix it quickly."
Production of A380s slowed slightly as a result of the problem but has now returned to normal and there will be no impact on staffing levels at Filton, where around 4,000 people work, or at the wing assembly plant in Broughton, North Wales which employs 6,000 people making virtually every wing made by Airbus.
Of the 30 A380s inspected so far, it has been the same 20 brackets where problems have turned up. There are about 4,000 of these brackets in each set of wings and the problem is localised in each case.
At the same time Boeing says it has had 25 orders for its flagship plane, the 787 Dreamliner, cancelled by airlines without naming who they were. Analysts say the cancellations reflect the difficult travel market and weak global economy. The numbers emerged in both firms' end-of-month order figures.
The 25 Dreamliner cancellations compare with 19 orders so far this year, meaning the American company is in negative territory for its flagship plane although taking into account other aircraft, including its fast-selling 777, the US planemaker still has a large lead over Airbus so far this year. Boeing's order book stood at 415 on May 1 compared with 95 for Airbus on April 30.
