Trouble in Toulouse?

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Singapore Airlines officials say they now expect to get their first A380 in the fourth quarter of 2006 — about six months behind schedule. If that happens, they add, they expect compensation from Airbus.

Key quote, from an SIA spokesman: “The first four aircraft built are set aside for Singapore Airlines. If our programme is shifted, then those of Emirates and Air France will be too.”

http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/afx/2005/05/12/afx2021729.html

And proving that you can take the boy out of Boeing, but not the Boeing out of the boy, ex-Continental Airlines CEO Gordon Bethune took some pot shots at the A380, saying, according to MarketWatch, “the biggest passenger jet ever built has more to do with ‘engineers’ testosterone’ than giving passengers what they want.”

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B6E811415-41BD-4A1D-8173-D11F799AAFAD%7D&siteid=google