News
Airbus might drop military plane project

Jan. 5, 2010 – An Airbus official says the company is considering scrapping its A400M European military plane project just weeks after the maiden flight of the grossly over-budget plane.

Airbus spokesman Stefan Schaffrath says ending the program "is a scenario" that the company is weighing. He says the company has prepared lists of engineers working on the A400M who could be transferred to civilian programs instead if the military plane
project "continues to contribute to a loss."

He urged the governments involved in the program to reach a solution on whether to continue financing it by the end of this month.

The A400M had its maiden flight last month in Spain. The program was begun six years ago by Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey.