Fears of further Superjumbo delays

FRANKFURT - Airbus won a plane deal potentially worth more than US$4 billion ($6.14 billion) from German airline Lufthansa yesterday but faced rising media speculation that it will soon be forced to announce another embarrassing delay to its new A380 superjumbo.

Lufthansa approved plans to buy 30 single-aisle planes from Airbus' A320 family, would take options to buy a possible 30 more and would buy five of the larger A330 model.

A spokeswoman for Lufthansa declined to comment on whether the airline had received a special deal on the A330-300 planes in compensation for delays to the 15 A380s it has on order.

Yesterday, a report in French newspaper Les Echos said Airbus could announce a delay of at least six months for its first deliveries to clients such as Air France, and only four deliveries next year to Singapore Airlines and Emirates.

- REUTERS