Air Canada to check Airbus planes after warning
Air Canada has been asked to conduct inspections and possible repairs on 17 of its aircraft after European plane-maker Airbus SAS said yesterday it had found tiny cracks in the wings of at least one plane.
This could affect Airbus A330 and A340 aircraft used by airlines around the globe. Canadian airlines AirTransat and Skyservices both operate some Airbus A330 jets.
The problem comes as Airbus competes with rival Boeing Co. for industry dominance and is set to unveil the world's largest commercial aircraft, the A380, on January 18th.
The Spokesperson for Air Canada says the affected planes do not need to be grounded and can be inspected for cracks in the wings during regular maintenance. "We do not expect it to affet our operations."
Airbus believes as many as 600 potentially affected planes are in operation. "It is a problem in A340 wing ribs detected some weeks ago at one of our customers," Gustav Humbert, Airbus' chief operation officer, told reporters yesterday in Paris.
The problem comes at a bad time for Airbus as it tries to win orders for its super jumbo jet, which has surpassed its development budge of more than US$10-billion.
The A380, a double-dected jet-liner that can seat 555, is a huge gamble for airbus. Air France which has bought 10 of the jets said this week it will begin flying the A380 between Paris-New York and Paris-Montreal in 2007.
Montreal's Pierre Elliot Trudeau Internation Airport is building a two-level departure gate to accomodate the A380. Pearson International Airport in Toronto and Vancouver's International Airport Authority are also building infrastructures to accomdate the giant aircraft.
A few cracks may hold off alot of people looking to buy in the future. Glad im a Boeing fan.
Yea it would make the large airliners think twice before purchasing the A380, but around 140 has already been purchased.
Personally, I don't think it would block many orders, there haven't been alot of trouble with Airbus' quality.
I hope they fix the problem soon, but I believe Boeing will make good use of this slight advantage to sell its 7E7.
Is it just you who posts here? I have been here for three days and only you and myself have posted.
That post was me, this forum randomly logs me out for some reason.
Might be something to do with your cookies.
Well, it's not just me, but sometimes most of the members are busy, so I'm the only one left, but if you look around you'll see some of
the other members posting, look under New Threads. Other times some members are just lazy and not posting (like Fido), and some of the members only
post in the private forums so it's hard to see them. ;)
