Airbus eyes selling A400M in U.S.

Airbus said it plans to sell about 210 of its A400M military airlifters in the United States, according to the AP and BBC. Domingo Urena, chief of Airbus Military, said it’s too early to tell if Airbus would seek a U.S. partner. Airbus parent EADS partnered with Northrop Grumman in the competition to build tankers for the Air Force. Just last week both companies bowed out of the competition when they said the request for proposals from the Pentagon favored the smaller Boeing plane. (Source: AP, BBC, 03/15/10) Gulf Coast note: Northrop/EADS had planned to assemble the tankers in Mobile, Ala.