Eads hit by repair cost to superjumbo

The Airbus manufacturer Eads, which recently failed in an attempt to merge with the defence giant BAE Systems, has seen its finances hit as it fixes faults on its A380 superjumbo.

It said yesterday that it had spent €200m (£160m) of an expected total bill of €260m repairing cracks in the aircraft's wings. There is also a cashflow deficit of about €3bn after a row with the German government over a development loan for a new passenger jet. However, the finance director Harald Wilhelm said cashflow would break even by the year end. The group's profit fell by 1 per cent to €309m for July-September.