First Production A400M in Assembly as Airbus Military Predicts Export Demand

Airbus Military has begun final assembly of the first production A400M, slated for the French Air Force. The company says that delivery of this aircraft (MSN7) is on schedule for the first quarter of 2013, thanks to good progress in the flight-test program.

The next customer to take delivery will be Turkey, also in 2013, followed by the UK, Germany and Malaysia, all in the second half of 2014. By the time that Spain takes delivery of its first aircraft in late 2015, the production rate will have reached the maximum of 28 to 30. The remaining partner, Belgium, does not require delivery of its first aircraft until late 2018. “We will have slots available for new customers in 2016-17, in between further deliveries to the European partners,” said Gustavo Garcia Miranda, v-p of market development, at the recent Dubai Air Show. He predicted that Airbus Military would sell 300 A400Ms over the next 20 years, of a total forecast demand for 800 heavy airlifters during that period.

The fuselage of the first production A400M is unloaded from a Beluga freighter nose-docked at the Airbus Military factory in Seville. (Photo: Airbus Military)

Source: AINonline 

Brussels Airport: passenger growth continues through October

Passengers

Brussels Airport handled nearly 1.7 million passengers in October, despite the economic recession still an increase of 3.3% on the corresponding period last year. For the first ten months of the year, Brussels Airport recorded a growth of over 10% on 2010. The strongest growth was recorded in the long haul and low-cost segments; the increase in leisure and intra-European was more limited. Once again, growth was largely driven by Brussels Airlines.

Cargo

With a growth of 1.8%, cargo is only slightly down on October 2010, which – given the worldwide decline in cargo traffic – is a satisfactory result. The decrease only applies to full-freighter traffic and cargo carried on board passenger aircraft; integrator traffic continues to show positive growth figures.

Aircraft movement

The small decrease in movements is explained by the fall in cargo traffic. However, the decrease in the number of movements is compensated by the use of on average larger aircraft.

Source : Brussels Airport press release