irbus may be taking some hits over its crippled A380 freighter program, but the manufacturer is making moves in another direction in the cargo market. Airbus is quietly talking with airlines about the civil freighter applications of its soon-to-be built A400M military transport.

Click to Enlarge

Airbus officials suggest a growing interest among air freight operators in the high-wing, four engine turboprop utility military aircraft. The order book for the A400M last month stood at 192 aircraft from nine European military customers since the program was launched in May 2003.

Final assembly of production aircraft will occur in Seville, Spain. First flight of the A400M is scheduled for the first quarter of 2008, with deliveries planned a year later.

David Jennings, vice president marketing for Airbus Military said yet-unnamed all-cargo carriers contacted Airbus because of the A400M's load carrying capabilities, and ability to land and takeoff on short gravel or dirt strips. The A400M's built-in rear ramp is another feature they like.

"The aircraft is capable of operating in any environment," said Jennings. "And that is a helpful niche for freight operators. It has great flexibility."

The A400M will obtain civil certification in Europe before military operating authority, which could prompt orders by commercial operators.

Jennings said the basic aircraft is the same, but the civil version won't have the air-to-air refueling system and other military hardware. The cargo floor and loading system would remain on the civil version.

The aircraft can carry "half the load of a C-17 and double that of the C-130," said Jennings.

The maximum takeoff weight for the A400M operating to civil rules is around 293,200 pounds. If sold as is, said Jennings, the A400M would have a maximum payload of 30 tonnes, or 66,000 pounds. Removing military hardware would increase the useful payload to 33 tonnes, or more than 72,750 pounds.

The range of a civil freighter carrying a 60,000-pound payload is 2,000 nautical miles. The range would increase to 3,059 nautical miles with a 40,000-pound payload, allowing it to operate to almost any point in the continental U.S. as well as much of Europe.

Four TP400-D6 turboprop engines, each rated at over 10,000-shaft horsepower, drive the aircraft. Each engine comes with a Ratier-Figeac eight-bladed composite propeller with de-icing capability. EuroProp International, a European joint venture company consisting of Rolls-Royce, Snecma Moteurs, MTU Aero Engines and Spanish concern, Industria de Turbopropulsores, is developing the powerplant.

The A400M is not a derivative aircraft; it's a brand new composite-filled plane, with a mostly metal fuselage.

It comes equipped with fly-by-wire capability and side-stick controllers as well as the glass cockpit included in most Airbus offerings.

Despite its capabilities, the A400M may carry sticker shock for freight operators. The base price for a military version is $136 million, but Airbus claims the civil variant will cost considerably less, although the company offered no official price.

But the real question is whether there is a market gap waiting that the civil A400M would fill.

"The airplane doesn't fill our needs, although it seems very capable and will find some niche in the civil market," said Bill Simpson, long-range planning manager for UPS Airlines.

Industry insiders say it is premature to consider firm orders for an aircraft that won't become operational until 2009, and then with the military.

The A400M program has generated some controversy over delays, which plagued the A380 program.

Reuters quoted an official of the Zodiac company, a supplier to the A400M program, of a three-month delay to the aircraft's production schedule, with a further 12 months delay very possible.

Airbus said the decision to delay the final assembly of the A400M by three months was made in March, as a "risk mitigation measure" following an internal review of the program. But the planemaker categorically denied there would be any more delays in the program.

The A400M production has started with major sub-assemblies already completed on the first production article. Static test airframe assembly will occur at the EADS-MTA test facility in Getafe, near Madrid.

The A400M wings, which are made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic primarily, are manufactured at Airbus U.K.'s Filton production facility. Nose fuselage sections are being fitted out of St. Nazaire.

Experts suggest the A400M could find a suitable home in the growing outsized market. The plane is designed for rugged terrain, capable of delivering equipment to oil fields or medical supplies and food to some remote locale. It can carry full-sized load containers, earth moving equipment as well as helicopters, after some stripping down of the interior, said Airbus.

Jennings described the A400M as a smaller, next generation version of the hulking AN-124 and IL-76 freighters, which were built in the former Soviet Union.

A better comparison for the A400M might be as the replacement for the ubiquitous C130 Hercules, also a four-engine turboprop.

But analysts remain skeptical the A400M will succeed commercially where other military aircraft converted to civil use have failed.

"I don't think anyone can give one example of where a new military designated aircraft had also been successful as a commercial aircraft," said Robert Dahl, project director for Air Cargo Management Group. He added, however: "The demand for outsized goods is growing and the A400M could help fill that role."

Coupling a high value asset with low utilization, however, does not necessarily make for a profitable venture. "I can't imagine what it would be used for in order to pay for the higher operating and acquisition costs," said Richard Aboulafia, vice president of analysis for the Teal Group.

Aboulafia said Airbus is making the same pitch for selling a stripped down, lighter version of the A400M, as did Lockheed with its L100/L-382G and L500, the civil version of the giant C-5 military cargo transport. Although the planes have had some life in freight markets, particularly where short runways and rough landing strips are part of the mission, few of these aircraft have enjoyed commercial success.

Boeing's BC-17, the proposed civil variant of the C-17, is not expected to be a winner in the civil arena either, say analysts. Yet Boeing continues to market the BC-17 to a skeptical civil audience.

Lockheed met with limited success in marketing L100/L-382Gs, selling around 116 aircraft, of which 40 to 50 aircraft are still operating with five cargo airlines today, according to one of those operators. Seattle-based Lynden Air Cargo operates six L-382Gs Hercules in Northern Alaska and other remote locales worldwide.

"The Hercules' have been successful for us," said Mike Hart, president of Lynden Air Cargo, which hasn't been approached by Airbus on the A400M.

Lynden's L-382Gs can carry up to 48,000 pounds of palletized or break-bulk freight in a cargo hold 54 feet long, 10 feet wide and nine feet high.

Hart notes if the A400M is sold commercially it will have to compete with AN-124s and IL-76s, "which were acquired at a pretty low cost and are pretty successful."

Those aircraft are fully amortized, he said, and fill a growing need for outsized cargo.

ACMG's Dahl said the overriding question of the A400M's commercial viability remains: "Can the capital costs be appropriately defrayed over enough hours to make it practical? In the past, that has been the problem," he said.