Rumours of a three-way bust-up between Airbus, Malaysian Airlines System (MAS) and leasing company ILFC were reinforced on Wednesday afternoon when the A-330 reappeared at Farnborough following a trip to Toulouse for a hasty paint job.
When it opened Wednesday's show along with its four-engined big brother the A-340, the MAS livery - evident earlier in the week - was covered with shoddily applied white paint through which the ‘old' livery could clearly be seen.
An Airbus spokesman denies any suggestion of a row, explaining that the A-330 was shortly leaving for a demonstration tour in the USA, "...and we don't want to advertise one of our customers over and above the others".
However, for some reason it was thought prudent to take the aircraft out of the show, fly it half-way across Europe and back, hastily applying a thin layer of cover-up paint into the bargain.
If there's no mystery, it's a strange way to behave!
Source: Flight Daily News
