24-Nov-2009 12:20 PM

Airbus pushes back Lufthansa A380 deliveries – Suppliers Share Wrap

More delays to A380 production have pushed back deliveries to customers for the aircraft, with Lufthansa announcing that its first A380 delivery will be delayed from Mar-2010 to Summer 2010. The carrier, speaking to Bloomberg, has cited “internal delays at Airbus” as responsible for the pushback. Airbus and Lufthansa have also agreed on a revised delivery schedule for the carrier’s 15 A380s.

Airbus has admitted that A380 programme is “still a matter of concern” with “slower than expected” progress. It is conducting industrial and financial reviews of the programme. The manufacturer had planned to deliver 18 A380s in 2009, but dropped this target to 13 in Sep-2009. In Nov-2009, it announced that several deliveries for 2009 would slip to 2010, depending on customer requirements. 2010 deliveries are expected to be approximately 20 aircraft.

For 2010, EADS is still working with its customers to establish a total delivery outlook, including the A380 programme. Airbus expects to maintain overall aircraft production rates at approximately similar levels to 2009. The manufacturer has delivered 399 aircraft in the first ten months of the year, and expects to deliver 480-490 aircraft for the full year.

EADS, parent of Airbus, was up 2.3% on Monday. Major competitor, Boeing, gained 1.8%, while Embraer was up 0.8%.

Selected Aviation suppliers’ daily share price movements (% change): 23-Nov-09