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Berlin still hopeful on reaching deal on A400M military plane

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Berlin, Jan 6, IRNA -- A spokesman for the German defense ministry on Wednesday expressed hope that a deal could still be reached with Airbus about the cost overruns of the A400M military transport aircraft project.

Steffen Moritz told media representatives in Berlin there were ongoing negotiations with Airbus geared at "coming to a solution" on the issue.

The defense ministry official's remarks came in the wake of the latest threats made by Airbus chief Thomas Enders who stressed his willingness to drop the A400M military transport aircraft project unless clients pick up the extra costs, estimated to be 11.3 billion euros.

Moritz refused to speculate on news reports about Germany's readiness to make financial concessions on the extra costs.

Our first priority is to seek a solution which would focus on implementing the Airbus agreement, however we are also constantly thinking about other options, the spokesperson added.

Germany has reportedly ordered 60 A400M planes, worth 8.6 billion euros.

The A400M military transport aircraft is supposed to replace the ageing Transall fleet of the German air force.

According to Enders, there was a 50 percent chance of reaching an agreement ahead of the deadline, set to expire at the end of this month.

Around 100 A400M engineers could be transferred to the new A350 commercial aircraft, if no deal is reached, the German edition of Financial Times (FTD) was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

More than 40,000 European jobs, of which 14,000 of them are in Germany, are linked to the A400M project.

Germany and France -- both of whom are main clients for the military transporter, have yet to agree on what concessions to make to Airbus, a subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space company (EADS).

Some 120 aircraft had been ordered for around 20 billion euros, but the cost overruns will make the aircraft vastly more expensive.

The A400 M military plane made its maiden flight in Spain on December 11 following numerous delays because of technical problems which lasted several years.

OT**1416

End News / IRNA / News Code 882530