Singapore boost for troubled A380

Problems with the A380 have hit Airbus' parent firm EADS

Singapore Airlines is to buy another nine Airbus A380 jets, despite heavy production delays to the super-jumbo.

The airline, which already has an order for 10 A380s, said the deal included an option to buy six more of the planes.

The order will come as welcome news for European planemaker Airbus, which has been hit by delivery delays to its flagship A380 project.

Singapore Airlines said it also planned to buy 20 smaller Airbus A320 aircraft, in a deal worth $1.33bn (£675m).

The airline said the narrow-body A320 planes would be used by its regional carrier Silk Air.

The firm, which is expected to take delivery of its first heavily-delayed A380 jet in late 2007, added that it planned to lease 19 A330 aircraft from Airbus.

Discount offer

On Tuesday, Thai Airways said it was considering ordering six more double-decker A380 aircraft, following compensation talks between it and Airbus over delivery delays to its outstanding order for the plane.

"Airbus has proposed a discount for the purchase of six more A380s. That is one of the options we are considering for the compensation," said Thai Airways president Apinan Sumanaseni.

The state-run airline had previously warned that it would cancel its order for six A380s if compensation talks failed.

Last week, Airbus announced that the A380 had been granted its Certificate of Airworthiness by European and US aviation authorities, after 2,600 hours of flight tests.

However, the troubled A380 project has been hit by a number of costly delays.

Now running two years late because of wiring problems, Airbus' parent firm EADS said in November that the delays to the project had cost it 1bn euros ($1.3bn; £674m) in the three months to the end of September.

The problems with the A380 project also led to the departure earlier this year of former Airbus boss Gustav Humbert.