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Airbus parent company EADS NV reported Tuesday that spiraling costs on its military transport plane and its A380 superjumbo pushed it into the red and warned that both programs will be loss-making for years.
Paris-based European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. said it lost euro1.05 billion ($1.44 billion) in the three months to December after booking charges of euro1.6 billion for the A400M military project and euro240 million for the A380 in the period. The loss compares to a euro490 million net profit a year earlier.
In the full year, the net loss of euro763 million compares to a net profit of euro1.57 billion in 2008.
EADS has been grappling with cost overruns and delays to its troubled military program and the A380, both of which are years late. In 2007, delays to the programs also led to a full year net loss.
EADS reached a last-ditch agreement with customer nations on Friday, who agreed to inject another euro3.5 billion (nearly $4.8 billion) into the A400M project, allowing it to continue.
In total, EADS has taken provisions of euro4.2 billion for the A400M, for which first delivery is scheduled for 2013. Canceling the project would have cost EADS euro5.7 billion.
EADS CEO Louis Gallois, who had threatened to halt the program if no deal was reached, said that the project is "now back on track."
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