| Airbus announced the first delay in June 2005 and notified airlines that delivery would slip by six months. This first delay is due to the difference of software used by the countries: German and Spanish Airbus facilities continued to use CATIA version 4, while British and French sites migrated to version 5. This caused overall configuration management problems. |  |
| On June the 13th 2006, Airbus announced a second delay, with the delivery schedule undergoing an additional shift of six to seven months. The announcement caused a 26% drop in the share price of Airbus's parent, EADS, and led to the departure of EADS and Airbus Chief executive officers, and A380 programme manager. |  |
On October the 3rd 2006, upon completion of a review of the A380 program, the new Chief Executive Officer of Airbus announced a third delay, pushing the first delivery for Singapore Airlines to October 2007, to be followed by 13 deliveries in 2008, 25 in 2009, and the full production rate of 45 aircraft per year in 2010. At the same time Jean-Louis Gallois was named at the head of Airbus to rectify the situation. The third delay was followed by the first cancellations to hit the A380 programme. On the 7th of November 2006 FedEx cancelled its order for 10 A380F freighters in favour of 15 Boeing 777 Freighters. In March 2007, the last remaining customer for the A380F, UPS, announced the cancellation of its order. So, Airbus suspended work on the freighter version in order to concentrate on delivering the passenger version, but said the freighter remained on offer. |
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