European aircraft maker Airbus is likely to report an operating loss for 2006, its parent company EADS warned this morning, blaming delays to the A380 jumbo jet programme.
EADS warned that the cost of problems with the A380 programme could be even higher than estimated.
Deliveries of the A380, the world's largest commercial airliner and the cornerstone of efforts by Airbus to catch up with US rival Boeing, are now two years behind schedule because of production problems.
The problems over the A380 programme caused a crisis in the company last year and this in turn revealed weaknesses in the way the company was managed and organised and in its cost base, and also put strains on the financing of other projects.
Top management at Airbus has been changed and the new chief, Louis Gallois is due to present in February ways of implementing a restructuring plan and savings of €2 billion a year by 2010.
The EADS warning came as Mr Gallois announced that Boeing beat Airbus in 2006 for the first time since 2000, taking 1,044 orders to Airbus's 790. But Airbus remained ahead in terms of plane deliveries in 2006, supplying a record 434 aircraft.
