Airbus may scrap the troubled A400M program, according to this London Telegraph report of a Der Spiegel interview with Airbus CEO Tom Enders.
Peugeot Citroen fired Christian Streiff, who designed the Power8 restructuing program for Airbus but then resigned after three months in a power struggle. Here is the report picked up by The New York Times.
Update, 4:00 PM March 30: Airbus discounted the London Telegraph/Der Spiegel report and says the company remains committed to building the A400M. Here is the Reuters report.
The picture about the future of the A400M is about as clear as this one.
Source: EADS
Of course, EADS in a public statement rejected this accusation and reiterated that they are committed to this plane and what is needed is a review of the contract among buyers and a “readjustment”. They asked for a three month period to discuss this.
It sure appears that they are in trouble with this plane but do not want to publicly pull the plug. It would be quite costly to keep this endeavor going and it would require more delay at a time when these aircraft are badly needed.
Ahhh, good old Telegraph, as if they didn’t have enough dirt on EADS, they bring in the A380 with ‘The A380 is in service but has been grounded repeatedly and is proving too large for most routes’. Completely irrelevant but I’ll leave my thoughts for a different topic.
Both EU and the EADS need each other. The EU governments may talk tough about the cancellation but they have also played a part in this sad saga. I think they will continue with some adjustments to the schedule and the budget.
Personally I think this is all just a bit of poker.
The U.K. and Germany are putting on a bit of a bluff on one side and Enders is doing it for Airbus on the other.
The U.K. does have something to lose if they cancel or reduce their order, jobs building the wings. Not just on the A400 but perhaps on future Airbus/EADS programs as well.
What Germany, Airbus/EADS France and Spain have to lose is quite a bit more obvious.
Don’t worry, the A400M ‘development delay’
is in reality only a hidden slowdown of the development program.
The A400M program will not fail, due to the dual
use of this plane for military purposes as well
as humanitarian aid programs of the countries
involved. For such dual use goods, there are
way more funds available than for military
equipment alone.