Leaves UPS As Sole Freighter Customer

It's not looking good for the freighter version of Airbus' A380 superjumbo.

As Aero-News reported last month, FedEx cancelled its order for 10 of the supersized cargo planes, due to production delays. That left two customers for the plane... UPS, and aircraft leasing company International Lease Finance Corporation.

Well, make that one customer. On Monday, ILFC switched its order for five A380 freighters, to the passenger version of the plane.

"Orders have diminished," said John Plueger, ILFC's chief operating officer, to Reuters. "We see a much larger market for the passenger version of the plane."

That leaves UPS as the lone carrier with A380 freighters still on the books... and unless another cargo operator steps up soon, its 10 plane order is likely not enough to keep the program going.

"We have opened a review of our aircraft needs in light of the latest delays, but have no final decision on the status of the order," a UPS spokesman said last week.

Under the "silver lining" category for Airbus, however, is the possibility the lost freighter orders would allow the European planemaker to use those slots for passenger planes... helping to ease, if only slightly, the long delay facing customers for the airliner.

FMI: www.airbus.com, www.ilfc.com