Air France delays Boeing, Airbus plane deliveries

Air France-KLM Group, Europe's biggest airline, is postponing deliveries of six Airbus SAS and Boeing Co. planes to reduce spending because of the global slump in air travel and cargo shipments.

The Air France unit is putting off the deliveries, including Boeing 777-300 passenger planes and its first 777 freighter, by two to three years, Nicolas Petteau, a spokesman at the Paris- based carrier, said today, declining to specify Airbus models affected. Air France hasn't canceled any orders and still aims to take delivery of its first Airbus A380 superjumbo by the end of the year, he added.

Air France will eliminate as many as 2,000 jobs after lower ticket revenue and dwindling cargo sales led to a 194 million- euro ($247 million) operating loss for the fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, the company said on Feb. 16. Industrywide air freight traffic fell 23 percent from a year earlier in December in what the International Air Transport Association called an "unprecedented and shocking" decline.

The French airline was scheduled to be the first customer for the freighter version of Boeing's 305- to 365-seat 777. Chicago-based Boeing postponed delivery of the freighter model in November, blaming issues including design changes and a machinists' strike that lasted eight weeks.