Strategic Risk Management - A new Framework based on the Airbus A-380 crisis (PDF)

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2011 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 1,0, Copenhagen Business School (Institute of Finance), course: Strategic Risk Management, language: English, abstract: The paper will outline major flaws in Airbus's risk management and thereby identify reasons for the production delay of the Airbus 380.
The Airbus A-380 project was launched in 2000 and remains the largest project in the company's history. The Airplane was designed to carry up to 853 passengers and offer 50 per cent more floor surface than any other passenger aircraft. The total cost of development summed up to EUR 12 billion and it was planned to deliver the first aircraft to Singapore Airlines in 2005. In reality the first aircraft was delivered in 2007. The 2 years delay of the delivery of the first Airbus 380 eventually added up to an estimated sum of EUR4.8 billion loss in profit.

The reason for this delay was that the pre-assembled wirings produced in Germany failed to fit into the frame when the plane was to assemble in France. This misfit can be attributed to the fact that the German plant used CATIA 4 (CATIA is a computer-aided design software) which was only able to show the plane as a two dimensional model while France used CATIA 5 which displayed the plane in three dimensions.