European aircraft manufacturer Airbus on Tuesday announced further delays in the delivery of its A380 super-jumbo jet, saying that the projected production timetable was "not entirely feasible," according to reliable sources.
"Airbus has completed a review of the A380 program and would now like to inform its customers of changes in the timing of the deliveries," Airbus, a subsidiary of the European aerospace group EADS, said in a statement.
"The review showed that the sharp rise in production projected in 2006 is not entirely feasible," said the company, adding that it would now make 12 deliveries in 2008, against 13 previously planned, and 21 in 2009 against 25.
"For 2010 and beyond, the new plan, the increasing pace and deliveries are still the subject of discussions with customers in the coming weeks," according to the statement, which noted that the projection for 2010 was 45 deliveries.
"The results of this review, at this stage, do not include the financial impact," said Airbus, adding that such "impacts could only be established after holding discussions with customers and examining the new timetable for deliveries from 2010 in a more detailed manner."
The client companies typically require compensation for delays, said one observer, noting that Emirates, the largest A380 customer, in early May indicated that it had been notified of future delivery delays.
The first A380 was delivered to Singapore Airlines in October 2007 following an 18-month delay, Airbus Chief Executive Officer Thomas Enders said recently, attributing the new delays to the complexity of the manufacturing process.
In early May, the CEO had acknowledged that the manufacturer "had absolutely underestimated the complexity of development and manufacturing of the jumbo jet, especially at Hamburg (northern Germany)."
"Approximately 2,000 German employees are working in Toulouse to make up for the problems attributed to the factory Hamburg," said Enders, adding that "this is not particularly effective and is particularly expensive for the company."
In total, 16 airlines have placed firm orders for 192 aircraft, said the EADS subsidiary, noting that four had already been delivered to Singapore Airlines.
The third delay, which was announced in June 2006, had particularly hit the European group hard, pushing down the price of EADS shares on the stock exchange, in a move that triggered a serious crisis and the establishment of Power8 plan, which is a restructuring program aimed at encouraging savings, according to observers.
Source: Xinhua
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