Virgin Atlantic Still Mulling Over Options

EADS, parent company of European planemaker Airbus, said Tuesday it has received no new cancellations for the A380 superjumbo in recent weeks. To date, FedEx is the only airline to cancel its orders for the mammoth airliner.

"For the moment, we have no cancellation of orders. We are discussing with our customers to find the best solution for them," said Christian Duhain, head of EADS International, at the opening of a Eurocopter regional maintenance center in Malaysia.

The aerospace consortium says it continues to work with other customers to hammer out acceptable terms and timeframes after wiring problems led to a third delay to the program. Scheduled deliveries for the A380 are now 22 months behind schedule.

EADS wouldn't comment on what terms, exactly, are on the table... but stressed it is hoping customers will look to different solutions other than cancelling orders, or seeking additional financial benefits.

"We are trying to find ways of cooperation. It's not a matter of compensation, it's a matter of working together to find a solution," Duhain said.

Branson Says Cancellation Still A Possibility

A possible example of that spirit of cooperation EADS talks about would be Virgin Atlantic, which last month decided to delay -- but not cancel -- its order for six A380s to give Airbus time to work out the bugs.

But Sir Richard Branson says that may not be enough... and he can't rule out dropping all or part of Virgin's A380 order if Airbus doesn't get its act together.

"I can't rule out canceling A380s," Branson said in a televised interview with Bloomberg, before adding "[i]t's a very good plane."

For the moment, Branson says his airline will extend leases on its fleet of 747s to handle increased traffic, and future growth on routes Virgin planned to fly with the superjumbo.

The carrier also flies Airbus A340s.

FMI: www.airbus.com, www.virgin-atlantic.com