Airbus hit by quality problems

May 7 2008 by Alistair Houghton, Liverpool Daily Post

MORE details are emerging about further, unexpected hold-ups to Airbus’s A380 flagship passenger aircraft, the wings for which are made near Chester.

The plane maker has warned Dubai’s Emirates airline, the biggest customer for the A380 superjumbo, with 58 on order, that there may be further delays to deliveries of the £165m jet next year.

The new hiccup in delivery schedules will be a major embarrassment for Airbus, which, after previous delays to the superjumbo project had been hoping production of the planes would now run smoothly.

State-owned Emirates confirm- ed yesterday that Airbus had sent a letter informing it of possible delays in its “wave 2” deliveries.

Airline president Tim Clark said the delay would apply to A380s being delivered to the carrier from April next year. Its first delivery, due this year, is already almost two years behind schedule.

“It's very serious. This will do us serious damage”, said Mr Clark. He added that the airline’s profit growth would be hurt.

Emirates expects to receive five A380s before the end of March, 2009, and another 12 in the year to March 31, 2010.

The delays are believed to be as a result of quality issues with components made by suppliers, as well as demands by airlines for the jet’s customised interiors. Production of wings for the superjumbo has been ramped up at Airbus’s Broughton factory without any undue problems reported.

Airbus chief executive Tom Enders said last week he was conducting a major review of the Europe-wide production ramp-up plan to find out if Airbus would achieve its delivery targets.

Missing those targets could trigger costly compensation payments to airlines.

Airbus is aiming to deliver 13 of the double-decker passenger planes this year, and 25 in 2009.

German airline Lufthansa said yesterday it did not expect any further delays to the delivery of its first Airbus A380 superjumbo aircraft, which is due to join its fleet this summer.

davidrjones