Airbus to miss delivery deadline

— Airbus Military said Friday it will miss a contractual deadline to deliver the first A400M military transport plane to the French air force by the end of March.

Civil certification of the aircraft will be delayed until the first quarter of 2013 because of defects in the turbo-propeller engines, the unit of European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co. said in a statement.

Airbus Military halted the 300-hour certification trial involving one of five development aircraft after finding metal chips in an engine gearbox two months ago. A fix to the engine problem has been found and is being validated, Airbus said. The company said it hopes to resume certification tests “as soon as possible.”

The plane’s turbo-propeller engine, the biggest of its kind, is built by Europrop, a group of companies including MTU Aero Engines, Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc and Safran SA’s Snecma division. The gearbox is made by Avio, in Italy.

Business, Pages 66 on 09/02/2012

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