Photo Gallery Recession in the Air
Airbus' A380, a massive double-decker passenger plane, was first delivered in October 2007, more than a year later than planned. Its troubles didn't end there. Emirates, a leading A380 customer, has complained about the quality of the aircraft after having trouble starting the planes.
Around 200 of the planes have been ordered but many companies want to delay the purchase of the superjumbo given the difficult economic climate.
Demand is waning for Airbus' A380F freighter. The company has taken its order data off its Web site. The logistics company FedEx has cancelled its order while Emirates has opted for passenger planes. UPS has also agreed with Airbus not to take any of the freighter planes for the time being.
The military transport aircraft A400M was presented last June -- but is yet to fly. Airbus is running some three years behind schedule with the high-profile project.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have extended the firm's deadline once again, this time by six months.
Boeing got the upper hand while its rival Airbus struggled with its delayed A380. But then the American aviation firm was hit with problems with its new long-distance model 787, first presented in June 2007. Two years later, after many delays, the plane is about to make its debut flight. It will be some time before it makes profit for the company.
Boeing ended up footing a high bill for a number of extra improvements. It has already said that it doesn't expect to make any profit with the aircraft in the near future. But it already has more than 800 orders for the plane -- meaning that, although it will take time, it will likely turn a profit at some stage.
In the times of recession there are fewer passengers, meaning the airlines need fewer planes -- it also gives a big headache to those who lease out the aircraft. That is the problem facing Steven Udvar-Hazy, who heads the world's biggest leasing firm ILFC.
ILFC is also burdened by the turmoil of its parent company, the now nationalized US insurer AIG. It now seeks to sell ILFC.
Helicopters are bucking the trend. While aircraft manufacturers are seeing business slide, the world's number one helicopter manufacturer Eurocopter says that 2009 could "turn out to be a good year."
That is despite a number of order cancellations. However, Eurocopter has seen continuing high demand from customers within the security sector and the military.
