Report: Wing Crack Fixes on A380s Will Cost Airbus $132 Million

Expensive. Wing bracket crack inspections and repairs to Airbus' fleet of A380s will cost the maker $132 Million

A report by German magazine Spiegel Online is saying the cost for Airbus to inspect and repair wing bracket cracks in several of their A380 Superjumbo jets will top $132 Million dollars, or roughly 100 Million Euros:

‘The figure, which is based on calculations by industry experts and Airbus insiders and is significantly higher than previously assumed, means EADS will have to spend at least €1 million per plane to resolve the problem.’

Cracks in many of the A380s first cropped up early in January of this year on several Airbus A380s of Qantas, Singapore and Emirates aircraft.

The issue continued to grow when more cracks were discovered on more a380s. Ultimately, after more instances occurred were cracks were found, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) ordered ALL A380s be inspected and repaired:

‘According to the calculations, the cost of the work on the 69 A380 aircraft that have already been delivered will amount to around €70 million, including the costs of inspecting and repairing the fractures and also for providing substitute aircraft to the airlines affected. But this does not include the additional cost for at least a dozen other planes that are expected to be delivered in the coming months, which are still being manufactured using the same methods as with the previous models. An additional expense is likely to be the modification of wings that are already under construction.’

Airbus has unofficially said that it expects to have a ‘permanent’ technical solution for the cracks by summer.

Source

Image: metro.co.uk