Airbus says more order cuts would undermine A400M
Airbus said on Friday that further cuts in orders for its A400M military transport planes, as one politician from Germany's ruling coalition suggested this week, would mean production would no longer be worthwhile.
The manufacturer cannot afford to build fewer than 170 of the A400M planes, a company spokesman said on Friday after a German politician called for a further cut in Germany's order.
"There would be no economic foundation for the A400M programme with under 170 planes," an Airbus spokesman said.
Juergen Koppelin, defence expert for the Free Democrats, coalition partners of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives, said Germany should reduce its order by 20 planes to 40.
Airbus parent company EADS reached a deal in March with seven European NATO nations, including Germany, that allows them to cancel up to 10 of the planes they ordered in total.
They had originally ordered 180 A400M planes and Koppelin's suggestion would reduce that to 160 without taking into account cancellations by any other countries.