Sunday, September 21, 2008

Another A400M update

Further to this post, Airbus gets down and dirty (via tomahawk6--more at the Milnet.ca thread):
Aerospace giant EADS has threatened to freeze production of its Airbus subsidiary's flagship military airlifter if clients do not drop penalty clauses for late delivery, a German news report said Sept. 20.

The A400M airlifter. (EADS)

Der Spiegel weekly, trailing its Sept. 22 publication, cited a letter sent by Louis Gallois, the French chief executive of both companies, to the governments of seven

In the letter, Gallois is quoted as saying the military carrier is "a heavy lossmaker" that is creating "considerable difficulties" at EADS, weighing down on the group's financial performance.

The "anticipated profits" from 180 orders on Airbus' books have already been "invested," with Gallois adding in the letter that the present position could become "untenable" within months unless a deal is agreed that "keeps everyone happy."

EADS wants clients to waive their contractual right to reductions in their bills due to late delivery, but Der Spiegel said Germany's defense ministry would be "standing firm," and Berlin is of the view that "financial concessions" should only be discussed upon receipt of the planes.

Business daily Financial Times Deutschland also reported this week that Gallois sent a letter pleading for "understanding" on the A400M.

Last week, Gallois said the plane's first flight would take place "before the end of the year," but the French press reported soon afterward that costs had risen astronomically and that the first flight was being put back to 2009.

Germany has ordered 60 A400Ms, making it the biggest customer.

Airbus has been struggling with four important delay announcements having been made since 2006 on delivery of its A380 superjumbo civil airliners.
Lovely artist's depiction.

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am no linguist but this article

http://tinyurl.com/45dvcg

says something to the effect that the French and the Spaniards are blaming each other for airframe issues and the Brits and the Germans are pissed at each other over engine problems and everyone is pointing finger at everyone else.

Nice happy development team. Probably really helps with their schedule issues.

And to think we could have bought this plane, as was recommended by so many "expert" journalists who cover the defense sector in Canada.

Experts, go figure.

6:14 p.m., September 21, 2008  
Blogger holdfast said...

I hope Boeing doesn't shut down the C-17 line completely - there could be a few more orders coming out of Europe in the next few years.

I still think the 17/130 mix is the way to go for any country that wants to move troops globally, even in small numbers. I could see the 400 being useful for the smaller Europeans, but the UK, France and Germany should have 17s.

12:13 p.m., September 22, 2008  
Blogger Mark, Ottawa said...

holdfast: TheA400M was designed mainly with a range and load to deal with missions in Africa and the Middle East--which, when it was conceived, was what the Euros thought most likely.

Mark
Ottawa

3:07 p.m., September 22, 2008  
Blogger Dave in Pa. said...

Amazing how identical in appearance the body of the A400M is to the C-141 Starlifter. Maybe EADS could just make a deal with the US Govt to buy all the C141s from the Davis-Monthan AFB boneyard. They still haven't been turned into scrap. They could be a bit more honest in the name, renaming it the A400X (for Xerox, of the C-141)

3:38 p.m., September 22, 2008  

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