Another delay will be costly for Boeing rival

PARIS — EADS, the parent company of planemaker Airbus, said Thursday it has indefinitely postponed the first flight of its A400M military transport plane because its engines are not ready.

In a statement, the European aerospace company said that despite the delay, “the 2008 guidance of the group is not changed at this point.”

The A400M, which EADS describes as Europe’s most ambitious military procurement program ever, was to have made its first test flight in Seville, Spain, before the end of this year.

The A400M’s engines are being made by EPI Europrop International GmbH, a consortium made up of Industria de Turbo Propulsores, or ITP, of Spain; MTU Aeroengines of Germany; Rolls-Royce from Britain; and Snecma Moteurs of France. An EPI spokeswoman did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

EADS said the problem involved the plane’s propulsion, and spokeswoman Barbara Kracht said that included the engines and “related systems.”

EPI Vice President Jacques Desclaux told the Associated Press that the aircraft’s engine has been ready since April, but that there have been delays integrating the engine with the aircraft’s propeller and electronic system. Desclaux said this integration was the responsibility of Airbus Military, the EADS unit overseeing the program.

EADS said the first flight depends on results of testing on the A400M’s flying test bed, which it said should start in the coming weeks. The test bed is a C-130 aircraft mounted with the A400M’s engine and propeller.

EADS said it would assess “the financial, technical and schedule implications” of the delay after the test bed flights and further discussions with customers.

The new delay “is clearly negative” and increases the likelihood that EADS will have to cut its earnings guidance, Oppenheim Research analyst Winfried Becker said.

EADS is forecasting earnings before interest and taxes of 1.8 billion euros ($2.64 billion) this year, on sales of more than 40 billion euros ($58.8 billion).