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Airbus Finally Delivers

First A380 Superjumbo Handed Over to Singapore Airlines

After production delays, management shake-ups and job losses, Airbus has finally done what it is supposed to do -- deliver planes to customers. The European planemaker delivered its first A380 superjumbo to Singapore Airlines in a glitzy ceremony Monday.

Airbus finally delivered its first A380 superjumbo to Singapore Airlines on Monday in a glitzy ceremony in Toulouse, France -- 18 months later than scheduled. But even as the troubled European planemaker sought to celebrate its achievement, reports in the French media over the weekend of possible further delays forced executives to go on the defensive.

"Until now, the A380 has been Airbus' baby. Today we are here to celebrate this beautiful mature aircraft's coming of age," Airbus CEO Thomas Enders said at a handover ceremony that included a sound and light show.

The brand new A380 will take off for Singapore on Tuesday, and will carry its first passengers on Oct. 25 in a flight to Sydney. Tickets for the maiden flight were auctioned off for charity. Full service will begin Oct. 28. The Singapore Airlines version will have 471 seats, instead of the standard 525, and will include 12 self-contained suites. The planes have two passenger decks and rooms for a bar, shops and even a casino.

Complications relating to the installation of the 500 kilometers (311 miles) of wiring in the double-decker A380 pushed back the project by two years, leading to 10,000 job cuts at the company and damaging its competitive standing against rival American planemaker Boeing. The delays announced in June this year wiped 26 percent off the value of shares in parent company EADS.

AIRBUS PROBLEM CHILDREN

• Airbus A380
• Airbus A350
• Airbus A400M

REUTERS

The delivery of the largest passenger jet in the world has been delayed repeatedly. Now, the first plane is set to come off the assembly line and delivered -- to Singapore Airlines -- in the first quarter of 2007, more than a year later than originally planned. Singapore Airlines was supposed to take delivery of the first plane way back in 2005. The delays were caused by problems with the complicated cable network and wiring inside the plane. So far, there are some 160 orders for the plane, which can seat 555 passengers in three classes in its standard version. According to prognostications made by Airbus parent EADS, the delays will put a dent in the company's 2006-2010 profits to the tune of €4.8 billion.

Airbus

The two-engine jet is seen as a competitor to the successful Boeing 787 Dreamliner. But Airbus has repeatedly changed their concept for the A350 in the past. Originally, the company wanted merely to modernize the A330 jets, which have been the firm's bread and butter since 1993. When the customers didn't bite, Airbus presented a new concept at the end of 2004. But that too was largely ignored by customers -- the fuselage was seen as being too narrow. Finally, in July 2006, Airbus announced the development of a completely new airplane called the A350 XWB. The jet was set to be ready by 2012, but now EADS is reviewing whether the company has enough resources available for the development.

DDP

The military transport plane was designed primarily with the needs of NATO in mind. But Airbus manager Christian Streiff has admitted that the plane has fallen behind schedule. The first test flights had originally been scheduled for 2008 and the first deliveries planned for the end of 2009. But experts are concerned that, given the problems with the A380 and the additional attention being paid to the giant, that there won't be enough engineers available to work on the A400M. The plane's development is costing billions, but is necessary to take over military transport duties from the Hercules aircraft. The project is the biggest arms-development program in Europe at the moment.

Airbus will be relieved to have its first delivery behind it after the delays, five CEOS and a battle between France and Germany over who has a say in both Airbus and EADS. "I didn’t think some of these leading airlines would stay with us through two years of delays," Leahy told Reuters on Sunday.

Morale at Airbus has been further damaged in recent weeks by accusations by the French financial regulations that senior managers at EADS profited from insider knowledge about the A380 problems to sell shares.

smd/ap/reuters