Whale Rider
Unity is Our Strength
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Airbus Says A380 Delayed for at Least Four Airlines (Update6)
June 1 (Bloomberg) -- Airbus SAS, the world's biggest maker of commercial aircraft, said deliveries of the new 555-seat A380 will be delayed as much as six months for at least four airlines because of the complexity of developing the largest passenger plane ever.
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.
The delays are a blow for Toulouse, France-based Airbus, which is counting on the A380 to maintain its sales lead over Chicago- based Boeing Co. The European planemaker said on March 9 that the breakeven point on the program has risen to sales of 300 planes from 250 as projected development costs of 12 billion euros ($16 billion) rise as much as 15 percent because of delays and the challenge of technical issues such as cutting the plane's weight.
``Airbus and its customers may do everything they can to find other solutions'' beyond cash penalties, said Laurent Vallee, a fund manager at Richelieu Finance in Paris, which manages the equivalent of $1.8 billion in stocks including shares of Airbus parent European Aeronautic, Defense & Space Co. ``This will certainly have an impact on EADS.''
June 1 (Bloomberg) -- Airbus SAS, the world's biggest maker of commercial aircraft, said deliveries of the new 555-seat A380 will be delayed as much as six months for at least four airlines because of the complexity of developing the largest passenger plane ever.
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.
The delays are a blow for Toulouse, France-based Airbus, which is counting on the A380 to maintain its sales lead over Chicago- based Boeing Co. The European planemaker said on March 9 that the breakeven point on the program has risen to sales of 300 planes from 250 as projected development costs of 12 billion euros ($16 billion) rise as much as 15 percent because of delays and the challenge of technical issues such as cutting the plane's weight.
``Airbus and its customers may do everything they can to find other solutions'' beyond cash penalties, said Laurent Vallee, a fund manager at Richelieu Finance in Paris, which manages the equivalent of $1.8 billion in stocks including shares of Airbus parent European Aeronautic, Defense & Space Co. ``This will certainly have an impact on EADS.''