Airbus military transporter celebrates first test flight (Roundup)

Dec 11, 2009, 16:22 GMT

Seville, Spain - The Airbus A400M military transport plane completed a successful first test flight Friday in the Spanish city of Seville, nearly two years later than planned.

However, the euphoria produced by the aircraft's flawless maiden flight was mitigated by the admission by Airbus that the plane will cost significantly more than had been foreseen and by demands from the seven governments financing the project about a fair partition of the cost overrun.

Originally scheduled for the beginning of 2008, the 3 hour 47 minute flight marked a milestone in the development of the new multi- function airlifter, which is being built to replace aging fleets of C-130 Hercules and C-160 Transalls in service around the world.

Spanish pilot Ignacio Lombo said the flight had allowed him and his co-pilot to 'appreciate the big potential of this magnificent machine.'

Spain's King Juan Carlos urged European governments and the industry to seal a final agreement that would turn the A400M program into a 'total success.'

The king, who witnessed the maiden flight, said the A400M brought European armed forces 'capacities that no other plane offers at a time when Europe's international engagements call for it.'

Among the 3,000 spectators on hand to witness the flight were government officials from the seven countries who are financing the A400M. They will use the event to discuss the repercussions of the delays on the project.

The countries are France, Germany, Britain, Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg and Turkey. The A400M that took off Friday was piloted by a Spaniard and a Briton and carried four French flight engineers.

The officials will be sending a letter to Airbus's parent company EADS demanding direct top-level negotiations regarding the entire project.

'We expect an answer by December 31,' said the German state secretary for defence Ruediger Wolf. 'We have contracts. We do not want anything from EADS. Rather, EADS wants something from us. With the letter, we are putting the responsibility where it belongs.'

'It is clear that we need a military transport plane,' said German Chancellor Angela Merkel. 'It is also clear that we know how important it is that Airbus succeeds. It is good that the plane has finally taken off. We've waited a long time for that.'

The A400M is the largest-ever European defence project and is more than three years behind schedule. It now seems likely that it will cost about 8 billion euros (11.8 billion dollars) more than the 20 billion euros originally earmarked for it.

Some 40,000 jobs depend on the project, 8,000 at Airbus alone.

In an interview published Friday in the financial daily La Tribune, Airbus chief operating officer Fabrice Bregier urged the participating governments to accept a large price increase for the aircraft.

'It will not be a price increase on the order of 3 per cent; it will be significant,' Bregier said.

The A400M has been designed to refuel helicopters and fighter-jets in the air and to rapidly transport cargo weighing up to 37 tons as far as 8,700 kilometres.

The full-fledged version of the A400M is not expected to be delivered to clients before 2015.