This is about half of the 20 deliveries it planned at the beginning of the year, but deliveries were disrupted by the discovery in March of a significant fault in the propeller gear box for which an interim fix is being implemented.
In 2015, Airbus delivered only 11 of the 16 aircraft it had promised to its customers, and during the first four months of 2016 it had only delivered three – all of them to the UK’s Royal Air Force.
“On the military side, we are now facing a serious challenge for production and customer deliveries of the A400M due to new, unexpected issues on the engine propeller gearbox. It’s very frustrating but we’ll have to work through this with our engine partners,” Enders said in an April 28 statement on its first quarter financial results.
However, in today’s statement on the 9-month results, the company notes that “aircraft delivery schedule heavily back-loaded to Q4.”
Regarding the A400M, Airbus said “progress is being made on the industrial side in terms of capability development and programme governance, although the overall programme situation remains challenging. The fleet has now completed 10,000 in-service flight hours.”
The statement added that “Commercial negotiations with OCCAR and the Nations are yet to take place with regard to the revised delivery schedule and its implications,” which is surprising given that these talks were due to have begun in 2014.
Airbus added that “As of today, the outcome of these negotiations cannot be reliably estimated.”
Today, Airbus also noted that the sharp drop in its 9-month free cash flow “also includes a significant cash burden for the A400M,” but provided no other indication of the program’s financial status.
Click for the full 9-month financial statement, on the Airbus website.
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from Defense Aerospace - Press releases http://ift.tt/2eFSGGd
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