Airbus Says Fuselage Problem Didn’t Delay Jet’s Production

Airbus acknowledged Monday that it had reinforced part of the fuselage of its super-jumbo A380 after problems were detected, but it said the issue did not cause further delays in the plane’s production timetable.

Airbus spokeswoman Barbara Kracht sought to play down a report in German weekly Der Spiegel on Monday describing troubles with a section of the fuselage in the rear cone of the world’s biggest passenger plane.

“It is absolutely not abnormal during the development phase of any aircraft that you find you have to do reinforcements here and there,” she said from Toulouse, France, where the European plane maker is based.

A minor problem was discovered with a section of the fuselage during a trial flight in Toulouse, Kracht said. The fault was fixed in April, she said.

She would not reveal estimates of how much the reinforcement cost or give any other details. Kracht said it did not cause any adjustments in the double-decker plane’s production schedule, which has already been pushed back more than a year.

The latest delays, announced last month, dragged down shares in Airbus’ parent company, European Aeronautic Defense & Space Co., led to a management shake-up and angered airlines worldwide that have been awaiting delivery of the A380.

Der Spiegel said internal Airbus documents showed that at the beginning of March, the company decided to strengthen the problematic fuselage -- resulting in extra costs and extra weight. The report did not elaborate on the problems.

In 2004, Der Spiegel was the first to reveal that the A380 was overweight, leading to major cost overruns.

Despite the problems, the A380 won a new show of confidence last week at the Farnborough International Airshow in Britain as Singapore Airlines said it would exercise an option to pick up nine more of the planes.

Singapore Airlines is expected to put the first commercial A380 in the skies, with its first delivery expected this year.