Malaysia Airlines System is likely to cancel its orders for six Airbus A380 jumbo passenger jets, despite the huge discounts for the new A350 planes Airbus is offering to almost all airlines that have ordered the A380, with the new delivery dates for the aircraft no longer fitting into MAS’s fleet plan.
MAS is expected to get its first A380 jet by late 2009, but recent developments in Airbus, whose European workers went on strike over job cuts last Friday, could push the delivery dates further than scheduled.
Sources told the Straits Times that English daily that cancellation of the orders for the aircraft is one of the options, adding “everything is fluid at the moment,” adding, “These planes are really expensive, so there is no point wasting taxpayers’ money if it no longer fits into MAS’ overall plans”.
Penerbangan Malaysia Bhd (PMB), the parent company of MAS, is the buyer of the A380s which it would have leased to MAS, ordering six of the planes in 2003 and under the sale and purchase agreement signed between PMB and Airbus, the first three planes were originally scheduled to be delivered later this year, and the remaining three a year later.
MAS had planned to deploy the planes on its long-haul European routes, including London, Paris and Amsterdam, said the report.
Report by The Mole
