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SINGAPORE - Singapore Airlines agreed on the purchase of nine additional Airbus A380 superjumbos on Wednesday but failed to firm up an even bigger deal for the planemaker's next model, the mid-sized A350 XWB.
Worth a total of over US$2.7 ($3.93) billion at list prices, Singapore is expected to have received deep discounts on the planes as a disgruntled launch customer for the A380, which is running two years behind schedule and not due to enter service until late 2007.
The airline also agreed to buy 20 A320 narrow-body planes worth US$1.33 billion for regional airline arm SilkAir and said it planned to lease 19 A330-300 planes from Airbus, too.
Louis Gallois, co-chief executive of Airbus parent EADS, was in Singapore to sign the deal at an official ceremony.
"We are very sorry for (the delay), and we are doing our utmost for Singapore Airlines and our esteemed customers," Gallois told a news conference.
Airbus has encountered problems in wiring the mammoth A380 double-decker planes that have forced delays and cost overruns.
Singapore said it had reached a settlement with Airbus on "issues relating to delays to deliveries of the A380".
It was one of several disgruntled customers that had demanded compensation from Airbus as carriers now face the cost of deploying leased aircraft until their delayed A380s arrive.
Singapore first pledged to buy the nine additional A380s - on top of an earlier order for 10 - in July, saying at the time that it also planned to buy 20 of the A350 XWB.
It was the first airline to commit to the XWB, which stands for "extra wide body", a plane Airbus hopes to deliver in 2013, five years later than the Boeing Co 787, which it is designed to compete against.
Singapore Airlines Chief Executive Chew Choon Seng told a news conference that he was optimistic that a deal would be struck for the A350s, and top Airbus salesman John Leahy told reporters that he expected the airline to take a decision by next month.
Thai Airways International said on Wednesday that it was considering whether to order more planes as part of any deal to compensate for delayed delivery of six A380s.
The airline has said it would cancel its orders if talks on compensation failed.
US parcel service FedEx cancelled an order for 10 of the freighter version of the A380 last month, switching to Boeing's 777.
Airbus has sold a total of 149 A380s.
As the year-end looms, Airbus is at risk of losing its annual battle with Boeing for the most orders for the first time since 2000.
Boeing had booked 865 orders as of December 12 versus 635 as of November 30 for Airbus, their websites showed.
- REUTERS
