DELAYS to the A380 superjumbo will cost Airbus €4.8 billion (£3.2 billion) of earnings by 2010, it emerged last night as The Times learnt that Emirates, its biggest customer, is in talks with Boeing over sharing its order.

Emirates Airline, which has 43 A380 planes on order, is understood to be furious at the new delays and is considering shifting half of its $13 billion (£6.9 billion) order to Boeing’s new 747-8. Other airlines, including Virgin Atlantic, are also understood to be reconsidering their orders.

The delivery delays, which have reached nearly two years, mean that the first A380 will not be ready until next October.

This succession of bad news for Airbus comes as shareholders in BAE Systems, which owns 20 per cent of the European aircraft builder, vote today on whether to sell the stake. BAE’s management has recommended the £1.9 billion sale.

The A380 has hit a string of production delays this year primarily because its engineers have struggled with the installation of the 500km of electric wiring that each aircraft requires.

Christian Streiff, Airbus’s chief executive, was forced to delay the jet yet again yesterday because of these production difficulties. Only one of the $300 million aircraft will now be delivered next year, to Singapore Airlines, down from the nine proposed in June and an original target of 15. The airline had been expecting to start commercial services with the A380 next April.

Airbus will now deliver 13 A380s in 2008 and 25 in 2009, and reach full production of 45 a year by 2010. M Streiff also revealed that the loss in earnings from this latest delay would be €2.8 billion by 2010 — on top of the €2 billion lost as a result of delays announced in June.

Despite the problems, M Streiff said that “all customers are on board” and there was “no significant risk” of cancellations to its 134 orders for the A380.

However, The Times has learnt that a number of airlines are extremely unhappy about the delays — and the lack of information that they have received from Airbus. Tim Clark, president of Emirates Airline, said: “This is a very serious issue for Emirates and the company is now reviewing all its options.”

Sources close to Boeing said that Emirates was considering ditching half its 43 A380 orders and buying the new 747-8 instead. That could cost Airbus a further $6 billion in lost revenue.

Virgin Atlantic is also reconsidering its order. It said yesterday: “The depth of the delay has serious implications.” However, this brinkmanship could also be part of the intense negotiations that are now under way to claim compensation from Airbus. The compensation bill alone could reach €2 billion, analysts said.

Times Recommends

• Lies and cover-up at MG Rover exposed by report
• High oil prices push manufacturing costs up
• Primark founder steps down as chief executive