EADS is expecting to an €85 million ($110 million) impact from Airbus A380 wing-bracket issues during the course of this year, having booked €14 million in one-off charges in the first quarter.
Airbus should take more orders than deliveries, says EADS in its first-quarter statement, with a gross order figure of around 700. Deliveries will be around 600-610 aircraft.
But the wing-bracket issue will have a knock-on effect on A380 deliveries and, as a result, EADS revenues will "see moderate growth" this year, the company says.
Commercial revenues at Airbus rose by 16% in the first quarter, to €8.8 billion, after deliveries increased to 144 aircraft from 131 in the same period last year. Deliveries included four A380s.
The commercial division's earnings, before one-off charges, more than trebled to €463 million.
EADS says that one-off charges, aside from the wing-bracket matter, should be limited to any potential charges on the A350 programme which, it says, remains "challenging".
"Any schedule change could lead to an increasingly higher impact on provisions," it adds.
Airbus rolled out the newly-painted flight-test prototype, MSN1, on 13 May.
"Preparations for the first flight are ongoing with a steep ramp-up ahead for the subsequent flight-test aircraft," says EADS.
Over the first quarter Airbus secured net orders for 410 aircraft including Indonesian carrier Lion Air's deal for 234 A320- and A320neo-family jets.
EADS's overall revenues for the three-month period were up by 9% to €12.4 billion while net income nearly doubled to €241 million.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
