Will UPS cancel their A380F order?
The A380 freighter program has been on the brink for some time now. According to this report from Air Cargo News, a cancellation from UPS could mean the death of the program:
UPS could cancel the remaining A380F order for 10 aircraft according to reports. The express operator has refuted cancellation rumours however, saying that it is still in negotiations with Airbus. The decision would leave Airbus without a single order for the super jumbo, despite its own projections of a long-term market demand for 400 A380 freighters.
Emphasis ours. Incredulously, a spokesperson for Airbus defiantly claims they will continue development of the A380 freighter program:
Tom Williams, executive vice-president for Airbus programmes, said on Thursday that whatever happened, the aircraft manufacturer would not end its development work on a freighter version of the A380.
Hmm. Continuing a program when there is not a single order for it, after all your customers cancelled their previous orders due to production delays? Sounds like empty bravado to me, I don’t see the stockowners – and the European governments that subsidize Airbus – wasting money and time developing an aircraft that no one wants.
jared on Fri, 26th Jan 2007 3:24 am
wow, there’s a great argument for gov’t subsidies