A400M set for imminent test flight
The first test flight of the A400M transport aircraft is set to go ahead in the week beginning 7 December despite rumours online that the project had been scrapped altogether.
A German website had reported that the project was to be cancelled due to the scale of the cost overruns. It claimed auditors had said the project would cost €5.3bn more than was originally expected. EADS has denied the report as 'speculation'.
The A400M project is already around four years behind schedule, and European partners are currently renegotiating their commitments to ensure its viability.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton had asked for answers on the future of Britain's order for 25 A400Ms to be given by mid-December.
UPDATE 1-EADS denies to drop A400M military transport plane
FRANKFURT/PARIS, Dec 1 (Reuters) - European aerospace group EADS (EAD.PA) denied a media report that it was considering dropping the Airbus A400M military transport project over expected cost overruns.
Germany's Focus Online website reported on Tuesday without citing any sources that EADS could bury Europe's biggest-ever defence contract even before the aircraft takes its first flight, planned for next week. It said auditors PriceWaterhouseCoopers had concluded that developing the aircraft would cost 5.3 billion euros ($7.98 billion) more than originally planned.
The 20 billion-euro A400M programme is already delayed by three to four years, and Airbus is pressing for concessions on the terms of the contract, saying it faces unaffordable losses in delivering the 180 aircraft ordered by seven NATO countries.
"Negotiations are ongoing. Everything else is speculation," an EADS spokesman said on Tuesday.
The seven nations buying the plane include Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey.
"We don't believe in the exit of the A400M project. The reputation risk is far too big for EADS," said one Paris-based trader. "We see this as the lobbying 'game' starting between EADS and the concerned states.".........
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