The seven countries buying the Airbus A400M have reached an agreement to provide an extra €3,500 million to save the project.
The seven countries; Germany, France, Spain, United Kingdom, Belgium, Luxembourg and Turkey, originally contracted to buy the planes at a price which was later considered unrealistic by the plane maker who, to allow the project to continue, demanded an extra €3,500 million to cover increased development costs.
The company, EADS, threatened to abandon the project if further funding was not forthcoming. The new agreement still has to be approved by the various governments and parliaments of the participating nations, although one would assume this is a virtual certainty.
The original cost of the A400M project, which is already three years behind schedule, was estimated at €20,000 million and the price per plane was calculated accordingly. However, the agreed price became unrealistic in the face of increased development costs and EADS, parent company of Airbus, requested more money from those involved in the project.
The project provides work for people in Sevilla and Cádiz and in December, the first test flight of the A400M took place near Sevilla.