Video - Farnborough: Airbus slashes A380 production

For the last professional day of the Farnborough Airshow, we’re going to highlight the A380 production slow-down, the Boeing centenary and some aircraft on site.

Airbus made a surprise announcement in the UK about the A380 production line, which it plans to slash by half. From 2018 onwards, only one wide-body will be produced per month as compared with just over two at the moment. The decision was taken due to a drop in orders for the super-jumbo over the past few years. Airbus nonetheless hopes to scale up again should orders increase. Since entering into service in 2007, 319 A380s have been ordered. As for the A350, the OEM didn’t announce the launch of a stretch version in the end.

A hundred years ago to the day saw the launch of the Boeing company.  This 15th of July at Farnborough, we were able to visit the special pavilion dedicated to its centenary. More than 5,000 square feet retracing the American aircraft manufacturer’s whole history, whether civilian, military or space-related. This weekend, the public will be able to follow the unfolding of these historical events or on the contrary, project itself into the future with Boeing’s latest innovations. Happy Birthday!

As for the aircraft on display on the ground, and despite the rain, the show revealed the Boeing 737 MAX test plane, whose maiden flight was a little more than 5 months ago. Bombardier, for its part, came with a CS100 under Swiss colours. Bell Helicopters presented a life-size version of its Bell 525 Relentless: a $15,000 flying limousine whose image was tarnished a few days ago when one of the test helicopters crashed.

But we couldn’t leave you without showing you Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter. On static display, many were impressed by the cramped pilot area as well by its handleability and noise level in flight.