Airbus warns of delivery delays with A380s

Airbus said today that deliveries of its new superjumbo A380 could be delayed by up to seven months, with airlines likely to only get nine planes next year.

The European manufacturer, chief aviation rival to America's Boeing Corp, blamed its scheduling problems on production-line bottlenecks.

Airbus told the Associated Press that flight certification of the 555-passenger aircraft and the first delivery to launch customer Singapore Airlines were still expected by year's end. Progress in flight testing is "satisfactory," it said.

But "the delivery schedule will undergo a shift of six to seven months," said a statement from the aircraft manufacturer.

It said the new delays were mainly due to bottlenecks with the plane's electrical systems.