FedEx confident on timing of A380 delivery

FedEx, the express freight group, has delivered a vote of confidence in Airbus’s troubled A380 superjumbo, saying it remains committed to the aircraft and expects its order to be completed on schedule.

Fred Smith, chairman and chief executive, said, while the latest delays to the A380 were “a source of concern”, FedEx had been assured its 10 aircraft would not be affected. “We’re confident,” he told the FT. “They have told us that ours are going to arrive on time.”

The comments followed Airbus’s warning that deliveries of the A380 passenger jet would be delayed by an additional six or seven months, prompting demands for compensation by airlines and causing at least one customer to rethink its order.

Mr Smith said the freight version of the A380 had largely escaped the latest delays because it had less of the complicated wiring that was causing the hold-ups.

UPS, FedEx’s biggest rival, said last week that its order for 10 A380s also remained on schedule. Both groups are counting on the double-decker aircraft to help cope with surging parcel and freight volumes between Asia and North America.

The A380 will have the capacity to carry a third more cargo and fly more than twice as far as the Boeing 747. Both groups expect to take delivery of their first aircraft in 2009.

The delivery dates were set back six months by an earlier delay and Mr Smith said it was crucial the current schedule was met: “We certainly wouldn’t want them delayed any further.”

International Lease Finance Corp, one of the world’s largest aircraft leasing companies, said last week it might cancel its order for 10 A380s because of the delays, a move analysts said could raise doubts about the aircraft’s viability.

Airbus has so far received 159 firm orders for the A380 from 16 customers but needs to sell about 300 for the programme to break even.

Shares in EADS, Airbus’s parent, fell 26 per cent after the latest delay was announced a fortnight ago, plunging the group into crisis.

Mr Smith said he was convinced the A380 would eventually be a success because of its potential to increase the efficiency of global travel and trade: “I do believe a lot of A380s will be sold once they get into service.”

Mr Smith is among the most respected figures in the aviation industry, having founded FedEx with 14 small aircraft in 1973 and built it into the world’s largest express cargo airline.