Thursday, October 5, 2006

Singapore Airlines says that it will be compensated by Airbus for the additional delay in delivery of its new superjumbo A380‘s.

The double-deck commercial aircrafts’ delivery, originally due later this year, will be delayed until October 2007. The main fault has been found to be problems in the aircraft’s 500km of wiring. In a statement on the Airbus website, the company said that “the root cause of the problem is the fact that the 3D Digital mock-up, which facilitates the design of the electrical harnesses installation, was implemented late and that the people working on it were in their learning curve”.

Airbus is currently two years behind schedule. In a statement, SIA said that, “The delays are disappointing; all the more so because the flight test and certification programme is proceeding well, and the delays are down to production issues.”

Analysts are predicting that the compensations could well run into a few hundred million US dollars. SIA has stated that the compensation details will be kept confidential

Singapore Airlines is the first airline to fly the A380 and will be receiving the first four aircraft.