The Airbus A380 was the world’s first doubledecker aircraft. It can accommodate from 555 to 853 passengers depending on the class configuration. Long haul airlines such as Singapore Airlines were early adopters of the aircraft back in 2007. The 2016 list price of an A380 is approximately $433 million. According to the company website, there are over 120 A380 aircraft in service with 13 airlines. Each aircraft is built to order and airlines often place orders years in advance. According to the FlightGlobal website, the Airbus A380 will breakeven in 2015. The site quotes Chief executive, Tom Enders, who says ‘Most importantly, we confirm the A380 break-even for 2015.’ As of early 2015, €42 billion in revenue has been raised from A380 sales. It also has an order book for 319 A380 aircraft as of the end of March 2016.
Questions:
1 Is it true to say that any A380 aircraft sold before breakeven has been achieved is making a loss?
2 Can you think of some major fixed costs likely to be incurred on the A380 by Airbus?