Is Indian Airbus A330 order hostage to the U.S. tanker bid?

Airbus has delayed delivery of 12 A330-200 freighters to India's Flyington Freighters because the U.S. is rebidding its aerial refueling tanker competition, a senior executive with the airline told Defense News.
The planes had been set for delivery in July 2008 but now may slip into 2011, and the Hyderabad-based airline is threatening to sue Airbus, Defense News reported.
The quick version is that Airbus used the Flyington order to show the viability of its plan to build airframes for the tanker and commercial A330s at a new plant in Mobile, Ala., and only intended to deliver the freighters if it won the tanker contract, the executive said in the story.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates overturned an award to a Northrop Grumman-EADS team and ordered a redo of the tanker competition in 2008, after congressional auditors found serious flaws in the process.
17/08/10 Seattle pi

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Categories: Cargo Aug 2010, Foreign Aug 2010