Company Watch - Airbus.

For more global news, data, analysis and features, please go to: http://www.AirGuideOnline.com/professional.htm Sep 25, 2006

Q Investments, a Fort Worth-based private equity fund, is putting Q Aviation on the block and has retained Deutsche Bank Securities to advise it. The company said it owns 53 Airbus and Boeing aircraft recently appraised at $1.2 billion. According to the AirGuideAircraft database, 26 are listed under the Q Aviation LP name. They comprise eight A319s, 10 757s, four A320s, two A330s, one 737-400 and one 737-500, all of which are in service. The 737-500 is leased to Bulgarian Airlines and the remaining 25 are leased to Northwest Airlines and US Airways. Sep 21, 2006

Aircraft lessor hopes to sell assets. Aircraft lessor Q Aviation hopes to sell all or part of its portfolio to cash in on the increased value of its investment. The company, founded in 2003, owns 53 Boeing and Airbus jetliners. Its portfolio is worth $1.2 billion. Sep 20, 2006

Airbus and EADS announced 'further delays' to troubled A380 program. Confirming speculation by BAe Systems Chairman Mike Turner and others, Airbus parent EADS admitted yesterday that there will be "further delays" to the beleagured A380 program owing to "continuing" issues related to aircraft wiring. The company said a revised delivery schedule and an assesment of the setback's financial impact will be made public "within four weeks." "Although the Company's assessment is still under way, continuing industrialization challenges with the wiring of production aircraft have been identified and are being tackled," EADS said in a statement. "Consequently, from what is known today, there will be further delays." It noted that A380 flight testing is "progressing as planned." Sep 22, 2006

Airbus' latest delay is the third overall for the program and comes barely three months after the June announcement of a six-month slippage in the delivery schedule that ultimately led to the resignations of CEOs at EADS and Airbus. Sep 22, 2006

Airlines were cautious in their responses to yesterday's admission by Airbus and EADS. Emirates, for example, said it would wait for the revised delivery schedule before making decisions on cancellations or penalty compensation. The delay also will affect A380 suppliers such as cabin interior provider B/E Aerospace, which said it "expects A380 delivery delays to negatively impact its revenue and earnings in 2006." Sep 22, 2006

Juneyao Airlines, a Shanghai-based startup, took delivery of its first A319. The leased aircraft has 128 seats in two classes. Juneyao, which is privately held, signed a deal in March to lease two A319s and six A320s from GECAS. It will take two A320s in January and operate routes connecting Shanghai, Zhengzhou, Taiyuan, Changsha and Sanya. Sep 19, 2006

Lufthansa has firm orders for 15 Airbus A380s. It did not specify whether it will order the A330-200 or the larger dash 300. It currently operates 10 A330-300s, according to the AirGuideAircraft database. The additional A330s "will underpin Lufthansa's plans for growth in the long-haul sector," it said, noting that the planes will allow for route expansion that it previously hoped to achieve in 2007 and 2008 with A380s. Sep 21, 2006

Lufthansa intends to order five Airbus A319s, 10 A320s and 15 A321s and will place options for 30 more A320 family aircraft. Deliveries will begin next year, with all five A330s delivered by the end of 2008. Sep 21, 2006

Lufthansa to buy five Airbus A330s, 30 A320 family aircraft. Lufthansa's Supervisory Board yesterday gave approval for the airline to order 35 Airbus aircraft valued at more than $3 billion, including five new A330s that will "compensate for the delayed entry into service of the A380," the German carrier said in a statement. Sep 21, 2006