Deliveries of the Airbus A380, a 555-seat superjumbo jet, to at least four airlines will be delayed by as much as six months as a result of production complexity.
Over a month ago, the Airbus A380, which is the largest passenger plane in the world, made its first flight. It took four hours, taking off from and landing in Toulouse, France.
The A380 has been made quieter than past Airbus models on requests from customers to do so. It is supposed to fly into 25 airports at first, but more over the next 20 years. According to Bloomberg News,
Singapore Airlines Ltd., scheduled to be the first carrier to fly the A380, may seek penalty payments, Chief Executive Chew Choon Seng said today in Kyoto, Japan. Qantas Airways Ltd., Australia’s biggest airline, said it will seek compensation. Air France-KLM Group and Emirates also said they expect delays, though they made no comment on penalties against Airbus.
“If there was an inexcusable delay, then that is a matter for compensation,” Airbus Chief Operating Officer John Leahy said in a telephone interview. Leahy refused to disclose the potential amount of the penalties.
“Airbus and its customers may do everything they can to find other solutions,” said Richelieu Finance fund manager Laurent Vallee. “This will certainly have an impact on EADS.” EADS is the parent company of Airbus.
EADS blew away analysts’ expectations earlier this month, posting a $425 million net profit. The company’s revenue rose 16% as well. Now EADS shares have dropped 52 cents, or 2.2%, to 23.51 euros, though they have gone up 11% so far this year.
Chris is a staff writer for murdok. Visit murdok for the latest ebusiness news.
