Long production delay costing customers, raising nationalistic rivalries

By David Greising, Tribune chief business correspondent. Tribune staff reporter Julie Johnsson contributed to this report
Published December 17, 2006

HAMBURG, Germany – In Airbus’ sprawling production plant here, one of modern industry’s biggest meltdowns, and the dawning effort to set things right, is a tale of two airplane-production hangars and two countries, Germany and France.

Nearly 600 people should be hard at work in the key production hangar here, where Airbus planned to assemble the giant sections of the world’s largest passenger airplane, the A380. Instead, the quiet is broken only by music playing softly on a stereo speakers that an employee sneaked in. Only a few dozen employees tinker on eight airplane carcasses that clog a production line that cost some $15 billion to develop.

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