The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

UPS threatens to cancel A380 order

Any more delays and the deal's off

Cloud storage: Lower cost and increase uptime

United Parcel Service (UPS) will cancel its order for 10 freight versions of the A380 superjumbo if there are any further delays to a revised delivery schedule, the BBC reports.

UPS had been due to take the controls off its shiny new aircraft between 2009 and 2012, but the A380's wiring woes - which have set the whole programme back by around two years - meant that the first example would be eight months late.

The new contract allows UPS to cancel the order altogether if the rejigged delivery dates are not met. UPS and Airbus have agreed not to disclose exactly what those dates are.

If UPS does bin the $2.8bn order, it's pretty much the end of the freight A380, since it's the only remaining customer for the type. FedEx cancelled its order last year.

Airbus now says the first passenger-carrying A380 will be delivered in October. We shall see. ®

Customer Success Testimonial: Recovery is Everything

Latest Comments

$2.8bn?

It's $2.8bn at list prices, which UPS almost certainly didn't pay. In fact if hear'say is to be believed, pretty much no-one pays list prices for either Boeing or Airbus planes.

0
0

More from The Register

Boffins find evidence Atlantic Ocean has started closing
'Embryonic subduction zone' that flattened Lisbon headed for Blighty
New material enables 1,000-meter super-skyscrapers
Before you read on, see if you can guess how the new stuff will be used
Google launches broadband balloons, radio astronomy frets
A careless Loon could blind the square kilometre array
 breaking news
You've seen the Large Hadron Collider. Now comes the HUGE Hadron Collider
International Linear Collider ready to rock and roll
Headbangers have a gas, gas, gas in mosh pits
Boffins say heavy metal crowds behave like The Vapours
Hubble spies unlikely planet being born in hostile neighborhood
Hoovering a cloud of sand 7.5 billion miles from a tiny star
 breaking news
Jaguar to open new car-making factory in Blighty (virtually)
Britain still makes stuff, it's just not real any more...
 breaking news
China's second woman 'naut blasts off for coupling in HEAVEN
Wang and pals test the cosmic waters for Chinese space station
Scientists investigate 'dark lightning' threat to aircraft passengers
One stormy flight could give lifetime radiation dose
 breaking news
Chinese 'nauts prep for next coupling in Heaven, clear way for new station
Second woman taikonaut and pals test tech for China's own orbiting platform