A380 takes off but Airbus sees fresh trouble
Airbus euphoria over finally delivering its A380 superjumbo was dampened on Wednesday by news the European planemaker’s new A400M military transport plane will be delayed by at least six months.
By Agencies |
PARIS: Airbus euphoria over finally delivering its A380 superjumbo was dampened on Wednesday by news the European planemaker’s new A400M military transport plane will be delayed by at least six months.
Delivery of the first A400Ms to the French airforce will be moved back because of problems with its engines until early 2010, with an “additional risk of further slippage of six months,” said EADS, the Airbus parent company.
The announcement came just a couple of hours before the first A380 superjumbo, the biggest passenger airliner ever made, arrived in Singapore to begin commercial flights next week for Singapore Airlines. The A380 departed from its factory in southwestern France where delighted Airbus executives finally saw the giant plane off after 18 months of delays and billions of dollars in cost overruns.
The company expects to receive new orders for its A380 superjumbo by the middle of next year from Asian airlines such as Air India and Air China. Airbus also expects more orders from Singapore Airlines, which took delivery of its first of 19 A380s this week and said the arrival of superjumbos means it expects to phase out its Boeing 747s within four to five years.
“The next one who is going to make a decision is probably Air India. We’ve been in discussions with them about the airplane. We have been in discussions with Japanese carriers, we have been in discussions with Chinese carriers,” Airbus sales chief John Leahy told reporters. “I would like to believe that we should have new orders by the middle of next year.”
Singapore Airlines on Monday was the first airline to receive the A380, after a delay of nearly two years that lost planemaker Airbus billions of dollars in a crisis leading to thousands of job cuts and a management reshuffle at the Franco-German group.
Some of Singapore Airlines’ 747 aircraft will be converted to freighter planes for use by its air cargo business, said executive Bey Soo Khiang at a news conference on Wednesday.
Delivery of the first A400Ms to the French airforce will be moved back because of problems with its engines until early 2010, with an “additional risk of further slippage of six months,” said EADS, the Airbus parent company.
The announcement came just a couple of hours before the first A380 superjumbo, the biggest passenger airliner ever made, arrived in Singapore to begin commercial flights next week for Singapore Airlines. The A380 departed from its factory in southwestern France where delighted Airbus executives finally saw the giant plane off after 18 months of delays and billions of dollars in cost overruns.
The company expects to receive new orders for its A380 superjumbo by the middle of next year from Asian airlines such as Air India and Air China. Airbus also expects more orders from Singapore Airlines, which took delivery of its first of 19 A380s this week and said the arrival of superjumbos means it expects to phase out its Boeing 747s within four to five years.
“The next one who is going to make a decision is probably Air India. We’ve been in discussions with them about the airplane. We have been in discussions with Japanese carriers, we have been in discussions with Chinese carriers,” Airbus sales chief John Leahy told reporters. “I would like to believe that we should have new orders by the middle of next year.”
Singapore Airlines on Monday was the first airline to receive the A380, after a delay of nearly two years that lost planemaker Airbus billions of dollars in a crisis leading to thousands of job cuts and a management reshuffle at the Franco-German group.
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Some of Singapore Airlines’ 747 aircraft will be converted to freighter planes for use by its air cargo business, said executive Bey Soo Khiang at a news conference on Wednesday.
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