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Doric aims to clinch 20 A380 superjumbos

The leasing company plans to firm up its first A380 client in early 2014 after closing the contract with manufacturer Airbus SAS, Doric chief executive officer Marc Lapidus said in an interview in Toulouse, France, where Airbus is based. He declined to give names of prospective customers. Lifting seat count to 630 on the A380 will help woo operators, Lapidus said.

Lapidus, who unveiled his plan for the A380s at the Paris Air Show in June, is betting on the double-decker jet’s appeal with airlines that only want a small number of the aircraft to serve global routes while avoiding large upfront financial commitments to Airbus. Doric would only need to sign up three or four carriers to make its A380 order work, Lapidus said.

“As the global economy enters a different state, where we’re not in the great financial recession any longer, the mindset is changing, and we’ll see airlines wanting to put the biggest planes on trunk routes,” Lapidus, 51, said in the interview. “We’re on the crest of the wave where airlines are starting to look for growth in their business models.”

The order from closely held Doric is a litmus test for the A380, which has been a tough sell for Airbus, with no firm orders this year. Boeing Co has also struggled with its 747-8 jumbo and has reduced output for a second time to adapt to slack demand. Lapidus’s plan to take 20 A380s would be the largest single contract since Emirates signed for 32 more in 2010, for a total of 90.

Airbus has targeted production at 30 aircraft a year. With about 150 A380s still on order, that suggests five years of work. The company plans to deliver A380s profitably from 2015, a year for which it still has some open manufacturing slots. — Bloomberg