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SIA drops plans for logos on A380's engine nacelles
Singapore Airlines has made a late decision to drop the logos from the engine nacelles of its Airbus A380 fleet, as it prepares to take delivery of its first aircraft.
The plan to have SIA logos on each Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine nacelle was in the airline's original A380 scheme. They were applied to the carrier's first A380 (MSN003) when it was ferried back from Hamburg to Toulouse in July after cabin installation and painting, but have now been removed.
"We decided they were not necessary and they won't appear on any of the aircraft," says SIA. "It was an early design and when we saw it for real, we decided not to proceed with it."
SIA says that it believes that its brand identity "stands out enough without them", and points out that the logos do not appear on the nacelles of the other types in its fleet.
The first A380 will be delivered to SIA at a ceremony in Toulouse on 15 October. The 471-seater will enter service on the airline's Singapore-Sydney route 10 days later.
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catch the ceremony live here
http://www.a380delivery.com/
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SIA gets first A380 today, but ...
Airbus still plagued by delivery woes
Monday October 15, 2007
This story is printed from TODAYonline
BERLIN Singapore Airlines (SIA) is set to take delivery of the first completed Airbus A380 in the southern French town of Toulouse later today, but Airbus head Thomas Enders acknowledged in a published interview that the delay-plagued European plane-maker would continue having difficulty in meeting future delivery deadlines for its A380 jetliner.
The delivery of the SIA plane is 18 months behind schedule. "In fact, the greatest challenge is still before us," Mr Enders told the German weekly Der Spiegel, in response to a question about whether there would be new delays in scheduled deliveries for the super-jumbo craft.
"Only when we are able to keep our production forecasts for the next two years will the A380 programme really have overcome the obstacles." That means delivering 13 planes next year and increase production to four per month from now until 2010, said Mr Enders.
While sketching other ways the company could improve its performance notably through greater manufacturing flexibility Mr Enders blamed current problems on a "lack of integration and coordination of processes in the enterprise". "That's our big subject," he added. "That's where we need to move things."
Still, Airbus received a boost last Thursday with the announcement it had won a major deal to sell 61 aircraft, including four A380s, to Spanish travel group Marsans.
In the interview, Mr Enders attributed Airbus' ability to compete with top American rival Boeing to its greater manufacturing flexibility.
"If, for example, the Germans aren't able to handle their workload, then the French, the British or the Spanish must do the work," he said.
"After all, we're all in the same boat and none of our clients ask us where we construct what; they just want to know when we will deliver."
Noting that most of the company's profits are earned outside Europe, Mr Enders also said Airbus should shift its attention to non-European countries with growing aeronautics industries. AFP
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