Airbus could scrap giant A400M project: Chief executive

LONDON: European aircraft maker Airbus may be forced to scrap its multi-billion euro (dollar) A400M military plane project if it does not get more funding from governments, the company's chief executive has said.

"We cannot complete the development of this aircraft without a significant financial contribution," Airbus chief Tom Enders was quoted as saying in an interview with BBC World Business Report late Monday.

"We made a big mistake when we (entered into) contracts for this aircraft six or seven years ago.... We should not again take a decision which would lead us to further problems in the years to come," he added.

Developing the high-tech A400M transport planes has proved much more costly and time-consuming than anticipated when the project was agreed in 2003 by NATO members Germany, Spain, France, Britain, Turkey, Belgium and Luxembourg.

A total of 180 aircraft have been ordered for about 20 billion euros (29 billion dollars) but clients are being asked to plough in more to cover unexpected costs and some countries have voiced unease about the extra costs.

Airbus and its parent group, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), have been in discussions over cost overruns for several months with the seven partner countries.

The negotiations are to be wrapped up at the end of this month.

Deliveries are at least three years behind schedule and there have been reports that the company needs another five billion euros to finish the project.

Turkey last week said it did not wish to pour more money into the project.

According to a report in the Financial Times Deutschland also last week, Enders told a group of Airbus directors he "no longer believed in pursuing the programme" and had begun to prepare for it to be terminated.