A380 delayed... again... still wiring issues

[indy007]

I think it's a cool aircraft. Ugly, but cool. Hope they get them off the ground before '08.

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- EADS, the European defense company and Airbus parent, on Thursday disclosed that its A380 superjumbo program would be further delayed because of wiring issues in the production of the planes.

However, it's too early to gauge the financial impact of the latest setbacks or to fix a new delivery schedule for the aircraft, EADS said.
It marked the third announcement of delays for the flagship Airbus project, which is already running a year behind schedule. EADS said it was working on an action plan with customers and would provide more information within four weeks.

EADS shares traded down 1.8% at early afternoon in Paris trading. Also see Europe Markets.

The A380's woes stem mainly from electrical-wiring problems and have prompted calls for compensation from customers, some of whom have hinted they might reconsider their orders.

"The current status is that we have not finalized the schedule of deliveries nor the financial impact of any delays," EADS said in a statement. "All appropriate resources are focused on bringing the ongoing assessment to maturity."

It added that "continuing industrialization challenges with the wiring of production aircraft have been identified and are being tackled."
Emirates Airline, by far the largest customer for the $300 million plane with 43 orders, said it hasn't been officially informed of any delay to the delivery of its first A380 aircraft, scheduled for October 2007.
"Emirates awaits clarification from Airbus as to when the rescheduled delivery dates are going to be, and has taken no position with regard to cancellation, compensation, damages, etc.," President Tim Clark said.
The Associated Press, however, quoted Emirates spokeswoman Valerie Tan as saying: "Things are up in the air right now. It's hard for us to say. We had such a big order."

Thursday's announcement is the latest in a string of reports from the company since June 14, when EADS shares plummeted 26% after it announced that A380 deliveries would be postponed as long as six months.

The news sparked the departure of Noel Forgeard as EADS co-chief executive and as well as Gustav Humbert as Airbus chief. Earlier this month, Charles Champion, the head of the A380 program, was succeeded by Mario Heinen, who previously led the single-aisle aircraft unit.
The fresh delays play into the hands of archrival Boeing Co., (BA : Boeing Co., which only Wednesday picked up half of a $6 billion order from Russian state-controlled airline Aeroflot.

The news also overshadowed a potential $4 billion deal with Deutsche Lufthansa (DE:823212: news, chart, profile) , the German carrier that said late Wednesday it's ordered 35 short-haul planes from Airbus and secured options for an additional 30.

Airbus is owned 80% by EADS (FR:005730: news, chart, profile) and 20% by the U.K. defense contractor BAE Systems (UK:BA: news, chart, profile) . BAE shares made modest gains in London.

Warnings had been sounded
The first indications of potential new delays with the aircraft, which is designed to carry up to 555 passengers, emerged last week when The Wall Street Journal cited Mike Turner, BAE's chief executive, as noting signals in place for further turbulence.

Turner also said on a call with journalists, following BAE's first-half results last week, that he wouldn't be surprised if there was a call on shareholders to invest cash in Airbus. See archived story.
BAE wants to sell its 20% holding to co-parent EADS. The BAE board's advising shareholders to approve such a sale at a meeting on Oct. 4, though the agreed price is lower than initially expected.

Deutsche Bank analysts told clients on Wednesday that a further six-month setback for the A380 could cut an additional 200 million ($254 million) to 250 million euros from Airbus forecasts of earnings before interest and taxes in 2007 and 2008, on top of the 500-million-euro annual impact announced in June.

"This would represent a 10% downgrade to our 2007 and 2008 Airbus EBIT forecasts and a 6% to 7% downgrade to group EBIT forecasts," the broker said.

Analysts for Kepler Equities on Thursday said the main worry for Airbus is
the risk of cancellations.

An Air France spokesman said the airline had been informed of a "new delivery schedule."

Meanwhile Singapore Airlines, another large A380 customer, recently changed its slogan to "First to fly the A380 in 2006" to "First to fly the A380."

[Mustaine]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060921/ap_on_bi_ge/emirates_airbus


Emirates may cancel big Airbus order 56 minutes ago
 
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - After announcing its order of 45 Airbus A380 jumbo jets was "up in the air," Emirates Airline said Thursday that it wanted the European consortium to clarify the aircraft's delayed delivery schedule.

Emirates' statements were spurred by the manufacturer's announcement that deliveries of the 555-seat A380 would be delayed. The double-deck airplane has a list price of $300 million, valuing Emirates' order at roughly $13.5 billion.