A tentative agreement has been reached in the fight over additional financing for the much-delayed military transport plane A400M, the Spanish defense minister said on Wednesday.

"We reached an agreement in principle between the seven nations in the project and EADS," said Carme Chacon, referring to the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company, parent company of A400M manufacturer Airbus. "The Airbus project will be a success for Europe."

Chacon did not give any details as to how the countries would resolve the financing dispute surrounding the late and over-budget project, but added that more information would be released on Thursday, following an EU defense meeting in Mallorca.

Chronic delays

The announcement is the latest in the ongoing saga of Europe's much delayed Airbus project. The EADS has been trying for months to secure the future of the A400M turboprop transport plane, haggling with the seven countries that ordered the planes over who should pay for the costly overruns that have put the program almost four years behind schedule.

EADS chief executive Louis Gallois and Airbus CEO Thomas Enders had threatened to scrap the project altogether if the buyer nations did not agree to take on some of the extra costs.

The total costs were initially set at 20 billion euros, but have now risen to an estimated 27.6 billion euros, making it Europe's biggest arms project.

Most of the planes are slated for delivery to Germany. The other buyer nations are Britain, France, Belgium, Spain, Luxembourg and Turkey.

smh/Reuters/AFP
Editor: Nancy Isenson