By Robert Wall and Christopher Bjork
An Airbus Group NV military transport plane crashed near
Seville, southern Spain, killing as many as 10 people on board,
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said Saturday.
An Airbus spokesman confirmed that an A400M transport plane had
crashed in Seville and that the plane was one due for delivery to
the Turkish air force. Airbus has dispatched technical experts to
the scene, he said.
Spanish state broadcaster TVE said two crew members had been
sent to a local hospital with very serious injuries.
Mr. Rajoy said the crew appeared to be Airbus workers, not
military personnel.
The crash is the first of an A400M military airlifter, which
Airbus assembles at a plant in Seville.
The U.K. Defense Ministry said it had temporarily stopped flying
its fleet of two A400M transport planes as a precautionary measure
until more is known about why the aircraft, which wasn't a British
aircraft, went down.
Airbus has struggled with development and production of the
four-engine turbo-propeller plane. The program has run over cost
and behind schedule.
The crash comes during another difficult period for the program.
Airbus in January replaced the head of the military aircraft unit
because of sustained technical and production problems on the
aircraft. The company's 2014 full-year results included a a EUR551
million ($618 million) charge on renewed problems in building the
plane that previously weighed on results.
Airbus has sold 174 of the military cargo planes, with orders
from eight countries. The first was delivered to the French air
force in 2013. Turkey, the U.K. and Germany are among the countries
to have received A400M cargo planes.
The plane maker was starting to aggressively promote the plane
in export markets around the world in the hope of securing more
orders. Airbus officials have said they won't make money on the
plane unless they secure additional deals after the development
program ran billions of dollars over cost. Airbus at one point
considered abandoning the program because of cost overruns.
Write to Robert Wall at robert.wall@wsj.com
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