More A380 problems

The latest news on the new superjumbo aircraft. Could these planes be the new Comets?

PARIS - Airbus acknowledged Monday it had reinforced the rear fuselage of its superjumbo A380 after problems were detected, but insisted the issue did not cause any further delays in the plane's production timetable.

Airbus spokeswoman Barbara Kracht sought to play down a report in German weekly Der Spiegel on Monday describing troubles with a section of fuselage in the rear cone of the world's biggest passenger plane.

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A "minor" problem was discovered with a section of the fuselage during a trial flight in Toulouse, Kracht said. The fault was fixed in April, she said.

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The latest delays, announced last month, sent stock in Airbus' parent company European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. plunging, led to a management shakeup and angered airlines worldwide that have been awaiting delivery of the A380.

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Der Spiegel said internal Airbus documents showed that at the beginning of March, the company decided to strengthen the problematic fuselage — resulting in extra costs and extra weight. The report did not elaborate on the problems.

In 2004, Der Spiegel was the first to reveal that the A380 was overweight, leading to major cost overruns.

Despite the problems, the A380 won a new show of confidence last week at the Farnborough International Airshow, as Singapore Airlines said it would exercise an option to pick up nine more of the planes. Singapore Airlines is to expected to put the first commercial A380 in the skies, with its first delivery expected later this year.

The air show gave Airbus overall a welcome boost in its battle with rival Boeing Co. for customers.

Airbus won orders or commitments for 182 planes valued in total at $21.5 billion at the event. Chicago-based Boeing said it had booked 75 orders and commitments, worth an estimated $9.65 billion.

Airbus has sold more planes than Boeing for the last five years but that looks set to change this year, despite the results of Farnborough

If you don't remember the Comet, read this. They were British built jet aircraft that had a design flaw. It wasn't till two plane crashes occured that the faults were discovered and then corrected.

The A380's flaws are being discovered while still in the design phase. That's the good news. The bad news is whether these planes are just too big. Airbus wants to top Boeing and create the biggest Jumbo jets. Is there a limit to what man can fly? We may be finding out.

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