Thu, Sep 28, 2006
A380 Schedule Announcement Could Come As Early As Friday
French newspaper
LaTribune, citing unidentified company officials, says Airbus may
make an announcement about A380 delivery schedules as early as
Friday -- this according to Bloomberg.
Airbus is in the midst of big problems with its new A380
program. Just how big no one really knows, and Airbus, of course,
isn't talking. But from all external indications, it's big.
LaTribune reports there are internal rumors Airbus may end all A380
program-related activities at its Hamburg, Germany plant.
You may remember all the shakeups with company leadership
earlier in the year -- mucky mucks with EADS, Airbus' parent
company, getting fired for selling stock, Airbus leadership
replaced when the first round of A380 delays were announced, etc.,
etc. And just last week the
European planemaker told its customers to expect even more delays
because they were having trouble with the plane's 300 miles of
wiring.
After Airbus announced
that second program delay -- in less than three months --
EADS said they hadn't had enough time in looking things over to
determine exactly how much the latest delay would impact the
program, time and dollar-wise. Bloomberg estimates cost overruns
might total $5.5 billion before everything is said and
done; company earnings might be hit for $1 billion a year.
Following Airbus' surprise announcement last week, EADS
told the circling media wolves to expect more information about
Euros and schedules in around four weeks. With this latest report
from France, it now looks as though someone lit a fire over at
Airbus.
Perhaps Korean Air Lines'
announcement they would seek compensation from Airbus
for the delays has prompted company leadership to move a little
faster, and hammer out whatever issues besides wiring might be
interfering with getting this program airborne.
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