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UPS could cancel Airbus superjumbo deal
2007-02-23
US courier company UPS suggested Friday it could cancel its order for 10 Airbus superjumbo freighters in case of further delivery delays. Any withdrawal by UPS would sound the effective death knell for the European company's plans to build a cargo version of its enormous A380 plane. UPS is the only remaining customer after FedEx pulled out last year. UPS said it had signed a new agreement on Thursday with Airbus which "specifies changed delivery dates for the A380F and provides for possible termination of the original purchase agreement by either party later in 2007." On February 5, UPS unveiled a multibillion-dollar order for 27 Boeing freighter planes, and said the A380 order was subject to an "ongoing review." Deliveries of UPS's first 10 A380s were originally scheduled to begin in 2009 and run through 2012. But Airbus has suffered repeated delays on the project, and the cargo version is not due until mid-2010 at the earliest. Bob Lekites, UPS's vice president of airline and international operations, said the express delivery company had first decided to buy the A380 freighter based on a "lengthy evaluation of our future network needs" across the globe. "Those needs still exist and UPS has been carefully evaluating various options since Airbus announced production delays late last year," he said in a statement. "This agreement will provide us additional time to evaluate our network requirements and make a decision once and for all as to how best to ensure service to our customers."
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