Bipin Shah   Self Employed
Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. (532747.BY) has for the second time delayed deliveries of its ordered Airbus A380 planes, asking the manufacturer to make more changes in the aircraft, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said recently.

India's second-biggest airline by marketshare is now likely to take delivery of the first jumbo jet only after mid-2016, pushing back the schedule that was to start in 2014, the person, who didn't want to be identified, told Dow Jones Newswires.

"Kingfisher has asked for modifications to do with the take-off weight of the plane," the person said, without elaborating.

He said Kingfisher ordered five of the jumbo jets in 2005 and that the airline was first supposed to start taking deliveries of the plane at the end of 2012. But the carrier--the only Indian customer for the A380--asked for some changes in the plane, delaying deliveries to 2014, he added.

He didn't say whether Airbus made the first set of changes to the plane.

The A380, touted as the biggest passenger aircraft in the world, can accommodate more than 800 passengers and costs about $360 million at list price.

The second delay in taking delivery indicates Kingfisher's cautious approach to expanding its fleet.

An unprecedented boom in the aviation industry in 2006 and 2007 led airlines to announce large-scale fleet and network expansion plans. But the global economic downturn, which followed 2008 and 2009, made some of them defer delivery schedules.

Kingfisher Airlines has been making losses since its inception in 2005, but narrowed its loss by 45% year-on-year to INR2.31 billion in the July-September quarter. The airline has 66 Airbus and ATR planes in its fleet and operates 350 daily flights to 68 destinations.

When contacted, Airbus' regional press manager, Justin Dubon, said: "Aircraft customer customization, as well as delivery schedules, are both contractual and proprietary information and therefore remain confidential."
Feb 11th 2011 23:41