EADS hopes A380 will break even in five years

EADS is hoping that the Airbus A380 programme will near break-even at the end of its current planning cycle.
Speaking during its first-quarter results presentation today, chief financial officer Hans Peter Ring said that the company was working on a 'planning horizon' of five years.
He says the "maturity" of the A380 "still needs to be improved" but adds that, if progress continues, then "certainly there is some hope that, towards the end of the planning horizon, we are approaching break-even".
Ring says the estimate does not amount to formal guidance but rather an "extrapolation of current trends".
He adds that the improvement in the US dollar would also "impact positively the whole situation".
Production problems with the A380 and the effects of currency exchange contributed to a heavy fall in Airbus' first-quarter earnings.