KEY POINTS:
Airbus is pulling out all the stops to celebrate the first delivery of its A380 superjumbo to Singapore Airlines today in a bid to restore European pride in a project dogged by delays, in-fighting and share scandals.
The European plane-maker was to fly in guests for an upbeat
one-and-a-half-hour handover ceremony.
It caps seven years of effort worth €11 billion ($20.1 billion) to create the world's largest jetliner and challenge the unbroken 40-year reign of the Boeing 747.
A foul-up last year over the installation of the 500km of wiring on each plane toppled Airbus management, pushed the plane-maker into loss and delayed Europe's biggest industrial project by two years, leading to 10,000 job cuts.
"I didn't think some of these leading airlines would stay with us through two years of delays on the A380, with five different CEOs and a battle between France and Germany over the governance of the company," said Airbus sales chief John Leahy.
"They have, and I think that's a testimony to the 55,000 people who work here," he said.
The first aircraft is being delivered to Singapore Airlines 18 months later than planned.
It will enter service between Singapore and Sydney with a flight raising money for charity on October 25. Full service will begin on October 28.
All eyes in the cut-throat airline industry will be on the frills and cabin layout to be unveiled by an airline which sets standards for on-board comforts.
It has announced a 471-seat configuration, leaving more space than the standard 555 seats.
With two passenger decks and room for a bar and shops, the A380 claims 50 per cent more floor space than the 747 and its designers boast it will introduce a new era of airborne luxury.
Buyers, such as British entrepreneur Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic, promise double beds and casinos at 30,000 feet.
The delivery is a milestone for Airbus after it battled successfully to stave off cancellations of the mammoth passenger plane, though buyers have deserted its all-cargo sister model.
Recent deals with British Airways and Grupo Marsans have lifted the sales to 189 planes amongst 16 airlines.
But the Toulouse-based manufacturer faces its possibly toughest industrial test during 2008 and 2009. Chief executive Tom Enders knows Airbus can ill-afford further slippage in the timetable which calls for 13 deliveries in 2008 and 25 in 2009.
Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper, owned by one of Airbus parent Eads' core shareholders, Arnaud Lagardere, reported yesterday that Airbus remained worried about deliveries and had launched measures last month to weed out any further delays.
The first two dozen aircraft are being wired by hand, while a new system is prepared to bring output to 45 a year from 2010.
Airbus parent Eads, Europe's largest aerospace and defence group, is meanwhile bracing itself for more turbulence over the actions it took over the worsening A380 delays in 2006.
The second tranche of delays wiped 26 per cent off the value of Eads shares when it was announced on June 13, 2006.
That was weeks after France's Lagardere Group and German car firm Daimler reduced their holdings, triggering probes in France and Germany over how much they and executives who exercised stock options knew of the A380 delays.
Both firms have denied insider dealing and are furious about the recent leak of a preliminary report to prosecutors by French regulator AMF spelling out "massive and concurrent" share dealing. The report does not make formal accusations.
Furore over the report spawned a secondary scandal in France over the decision by state bank CDC to buy 2.25 per cent of Eads from Lagardere in April 2006. The decision led to a big loss for the bank which helps to manage state workers' pensions.
- Reuters