EADS has issued a statement urging caution on drawing conclusions from the issuing of a letter by A400M partner nations on the future of the troubled program.
The company says it is too early to draw financial conclusions from the contents of the letter in which the partner nations proposed the additional financial commitments they were prepared to make and a number of changes to the original contract.
“The letter is definitely an important step towards convergence, but it is not a contract draft; the company wishes to get further clarification on several items, and certain points are left open for later discussion,” the EADS statement read. “EADS will update the A400M provision in its 2009 financial statements. This update will require certain critical assumptions and financial assessments to be made that are not yet finalised. Therefore, EADS is at present not in a position to determine the level of the A400M provision it will need to charge in its 2009 accounts.”
The A400M program is more than three years late and several billion euros over budget due to industrial and technical issues. The first aircraft flew late last year but flight testing has been suspended pending a resolution of the contractual issues.
