Airbus agrees some A400M problems ‘home-made’
aTP- Arab tourism portal- Airbus chief Tom Enders conceded in a newspaper interview yesterday that some of the “massive problems” dogging the European airplane manufacturer’s new military transporter, the A400M, were of the group’s own making.
“We underestimated the engine problems,” Enders told the Bild am Sonntag.
At the start of the programme, Airbus had “let itself be persuaded by some well-known European leaders into using an engine made by an inexperienced consortium,” Enders said.Furthermore, it had let itself be roped into assuming full responsibility for this new type of turbo-prop engine, he continued.
“These are two massive problems which we’re now paying for.” But in addition to the “insufficient quality of the supplier … home-made problems are also playing a role,” Enders said. Despite delivery delays and limitations in its operational readiness, Enders said governments should not start looking for alternatives.
