The A400M military transport plane that has been causing Airbus and European defense ministers budgetary and logistical headaches finally took to the skies for its maiden flight on Friday.
But even as the hulking gray airlifter took off from the Spanish city of Seville, defense officials are meeting on the sidelines of the event to decide how to continue with the much delayed and over budget project.
Louis Gallois, head of Airbus parent EADS, said he found the takeoff “more moving than I expected. It's enormous. We´ve been waiting a long time.”
He disappeared into the VIP tent — where journalists are not allowed — when asked about cost overruns.
The A400M program was launched six years ago with an order for 180 planes from seven governments — Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey. The project is running at least three years late.
The original price was euro20 billion ($29.46 billion), but a preliminary report by auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers said EADS might need an extra euro5 billion — inflating the final bill by 25 percent, a person familiar with the talks said on condition of anonymity, as he is not authorized to speak to reporters.
Airbus CEO Tom Enders declined to talk about the A400M´s funding gap, saying “I am not talking about any sums of money today, we are celebrating the first flight.”
“There are ongoing negotiations,” he said. “I hope we can conclude them in the weeks ahead.”
Enders told The Associated Press that he enjoyed a breakfast of croissants and “very strong coffee” with the six man crew Friday morning to wish the two test pilots and four engineers good luck.
“They were very confident,” he said.
Friday's flight is testing basic functions such as the landing gear and the flaps. It marks the beginning of a three-year flight test program.
The 127 ton (140 short tons) plane took off 15 minutes late after a few glitches with the flight instruments, said Fernando Alonso, head of Flight Operations at Airbus. It headed southwest, over the Spanish region of Extremadura.
via It Flies! Airbus’ Hulking A400M Has Maiden Flight – ABC News.
