EADS head warns of "risks" to two key Airbus programs

AFP, May, 2008

AMSTERDAM (AFP) — The executive head of European aerospace giant EADS warned Monday that two key programs at aircraft unit Airbus, the A400M military transporter and the A380 superjumbo, still faced serious "risks."

Louis Gallois, European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company chief executive, also told a shareholders' assembly that Airbus could suffer a slowdown in orders as airlines grapple with soaring fuel prices.

Gallois said that for the A400M and the A380, both of which have been hit with production delays, there are "still non-negligible risk levels to execution."

He repeated several times that the most recently announced delays in A380 deliveries would be "three to five months."

Gallois stressed that "ramping up (A380) production was underway...