Airbus Sas, the world's largest plane maker, is sticking with a goal of delivering 12 A380 superjumbo jetliners this year, belying a spate of reports that the manufacturer would further delay the aircraft.
Airbus was "ready to take a bet" that it would meet its delivery goal, Chief Executive Officer Tom Enders said yesterday at the company's headquarters in Toulouse, France, where Australia's Qantas Airways Ltd received its first A380.
Airbus was scrambling to meet the delivery target for the double-decker amid difficulties in the installation of interior fittings, Bloomberg News reported. It handed over one A380 last year and has shipped seven this year, including the Qantas plane.
French newspaper La Tribune reported yesterday that Airbus would miss its 12-plane target and deliver eight to 10 A380s this year. The paper cited an unidentified person at the company. Enders dismissed the report as speculation and said Airbus still planned to meet its goal.
Shares in Airbus parent European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co rose as much as 85 euro cents, or 6.3 percent, to 14.44 euros (20.49 U.S. dollars) in Paris trading and was up 4.3 percent at 11:40am. The stock has declined 35 percent this year amid investor concern that the plane maker is behind schedule on aircraft, including the A400M military transport.
"I'm ready to take a bet that Airbus will deliver more than 10, more than 11," A380s this year, Enders said. "Speculating about A380 deliveries has become a game in some circles of the media."
The A380's calendar has been set back three times, and the plane's development has cost at least 6 billion euros more than the 12 billion euros projected because of difficulty in fitting cabling in the cabin. Each plane has almost 500 kilometers of wiring.
Boeing Co, the world's No. 2 airliner manufacturer, is also behind schedule with its 787 Dreamliner. The plane may be delayed further by a strike by machinists.
Chicago-based Boeing and Airbus are trying to keep up with record orders in the past three years from airlines eager to replace older planes with more fuel-efficient models.
Airbus said on September 1 that a second A380 for Dubai-based Emirates would arrive a few weeks late. The carrier took delivery of its first A380 in July and is using the model to serve New York.
Emirates had to withdraw the plane from service for several days last week to fix an electrical problem.
Source:Xinhua
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