Airbus A400m best military transport on the market today needs initial financial support

European aircraft maker Airbus pressed governments on Tuesday to open their wallets to save the troubled A400M military plane project, warning that the company's viability depended on it. Airbus has 52,000 employees, with some 10,000 working on the A400M project.

"We should not accept the situation and continue this stupidity that could seriously jeopardise Airbus and its commercial competitiveness," Enders said. Developing the high-tech A400M transport planes has proved much more costly and time-consuming than anticipated when the project was agreed in 2003 by NATO members Germany, Spain, France, Britain, Turkey, Belgium and Luxembourg. The A400, however, is considered the best transport and most advanced aircraft presently available and is expected to become a top seller once it is on the market.

So far a total of 180 aircraft have been ordered for about 20 billion euros (29 billion dollars) but clients are being asked to plough in more to cover unexpected costs and some countries have voiced unease about the extra costs.

For the complete report go to: AFP: Airbus warns military plane failure threatens company