EADS co-Chief Executive Tom Enders said there was no need to scrap the freighter version of the Airbus A380 superjumbo even though it now only has one customer.
There is demand for 500 cargo planes of that size in the next 20 years, Enders told journalists in comments embargoed until Tuesday. Airbus said on Monday that International Lease Finance Corp, the world's largest aircraft leasing firm, had switched its order for five freighter versions of the A380 to passenger models. This came after package delivery firm FedEx scrapped its order for 10 A380 freighters last month and switched to Boeing 777s, leaving FedEx rival UPS as the only customer for the A380 freighter, with 10 orders.
Enders described 2006 as an "annus horribilis" for EADS after production problems with the A380 led to two-year delays to the programme and a 4.8 billion-euro ($6.39 billion) shortfall in future profits. The woes also attracted the attention of the governments of the Franco-German company.
But Enders said he expected the German government's plan for a German consortium to take part of carmaker DaimlerChrysler's 22.5 percent stake in EADS to succeed. Daimler wants to reduce it to 15 percent.
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