Malaysia Airlines System (MAS), the national carrier, is likely to cancel its orders for six
Airbus A380 jumbo passenger jets, local press reported Monday.
Despite the huge discounts for the new A350 planes Airbus is offering to almost all airlines that have ordered the A380, the new delivery dates for the aircraft will no longer fit into MAS's fleet plan, said the New Straits Times.
MAS is expected to get its first A380 jet by late 2009, but recent developments in Airbus, whose European workers went on strike over job cuts last Friday, could push the delivery dates
further than scheduled.
Sources told the English daily that cancellation of the orders for the aircraft is one of the options, adding "everything is fluid at the moment."
"These planes are really expensive. So there is no point wasting taxpayers' money if it no longer fits into MAS' overall plans," the source said.
Penerbangan Malaysia Bhd (PMB), the parent company of MAS, is the buyer of the A380s which it would have leased to MAS. It had ordered six of the planes in 2003.
Under the sale and purchase agreement signed between PMB and Airbus, the first three planes were originally scheduled to be delivered later this year, and the remaining three a year later.
MAS had planned to deploy the planes on its long-haul European routes, including London, Paris and Amsterdam, said the report.