PARIS: Airbus revealed new delays for its troubled A380 superjumbo on Thursday, blaming wiring installation problems which have already pushed the project a year behind schedule and sliced into future profits.
Bowing to pressure to confirm or deny reports of another logjam in the project, Airbus parent EADS said it was too early to say how long the programme’s third delay would be or how much it would cost.
French newspaper Les Echos reported this week that airlines could face waits of at least another six months.
EADS shares fell by as much as 3.9 percent, stripping 750 million euros in value off the world’s second largest aerospace group, before closing down 2.37 percent at 22.26 euros.
The 12-billion-euro programme to produce a new class of mammoth plane has hit problems in fitting each jet’s 500kms of wiring, culminating in a two billion euro profit warning and management shake-up in June.
“Continuing industrialisation challenges with the wiring of production aircraft have been identified and are being tackled,” EADS said in a statement. “Consequently, from what is known today, there will be further delays.”
Airbus Chief Executive Christian Streiff, appointed in July to sort out the crisis, had ordered a full report on the project by end-September. But on Thursday EADS said Airbus needed up to four weeks to complete it.
Streiff has already replaced the head of the A380 programme.
“The fact that they are a month late with the audit is the worst news we got today,” said one London-based aerospace analyst.
The delays are the latest blow to Europe’s flagship project to build a double-decker airliner capable of carrying 555 people in three classes or more than 800 in all-economy seating.
Angry airlines are pressing for penalties for late delivery of the 260 million euro airliner, the largest ever built. “Most carriers who have ordered the A380 have hardened their position today,” said one airline official who declined to be identified.
Dubai airline Emirates denied media reports that it was considering cancelling its order for 43 A380s worth 12 billion euros at list prices, by far the largest order for the plane.
“Emirates awaits clarification from Airbus as to when the rescheduled delivery dates are going to be, and has taken no position with regard to cancellation, compensation, damages, etc.,” Emirates President Tim Clark said in a statement.
“Emirates is concerned primarily with establishing exactly when the aircraft will be delivered into the company in order that it can continue its planned expansion. There is no point in any further speculation,” he said.
SPECIAL FEATURES: Airbus laid on glitzy celebrations of the A380’s official inauguration and maiden flight last year, but the design team’s euphoria wore off when the aircraft moved into mass production.
Assembly workers in Toulouse, southern France, have been bogged down for a year in airline requests for special cabin features and frills that affect each plane’s wiring layout.
To save face, analysts expect the first A380 to be delivered to Singapore Airlines on time by end-December.
But doubts have been growing over the schedule for 2007 and beyond.—Reuters
