Airbus parent EADS has announced stronger than expected profits but further delays to its A350 program.
EADS said net profits for the second quarter reached 461 million euros ($545m), up from 121 million euros in the same period last year. Sales were up 12 per cent to 13.5 billion euros, with the company’s order book reaching a record 551.7 billion euros.
But the robust numbers were tempered somewhat by news that the Airbus A350 would face further production delays as a result of a previously disclosed problem with wing drilling. Airbus said deliveries of the twin engine composite built jet, primarily designed to compete with Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, would be pushed back by several months to the second half of 2014. The company said it had taken a charge of 125 million euros as a result of the delay and warned that further delays would lead to more charges.
Airbus last year delayed delivery of the first A350 by six months to the first half of 2014, a move it attributed to late arriving parts.
