Airbus aiming to gain altitude despite its A380 engine woes
AIRBUS is targeting higher revenue and deliveries despite the chaos caused by the break-up of a Rolls-Royce engine on one of its super-jumbos, it emerged yesterday.
The Toulouse-based aircraft giant expects revenue to rise more than five per cent in the next five years, according to finance chief Hans Peter Ring.
Airbus, part of aerospace group EADS, expects to deliver two A380 super-jumbos per month next year and about three a month in 2012, compared with the 20 deliveries it still expects for this year.
The news comes despite possible delays arising from a need to switch engines on aircraft already in service after the A380 accident.
A Rolls Trent 900 engine on a Qantas A380 partly disintegrated mid-flight on 4 November, forcing the jet to make an emergency landing in Singapore.
Rolls-Royce has asked Airbus to return some Trent 900s from production lines to replace faulty ones on jets already in service.
The move could further hit a much-delayed A380 programme as Airbus is due to deliver over a dozen Rolls-powered A380s – mainly to Singapore Airlines, Qantas and Lufthansa by the end of next year.