Air Transport

British Airways is pushing back its Airbus A380 delivery schedule, with some later aircraft being postponed by at least two years.

The UK flag-carrier is also planning to take six more aircraft in its current fleet out of service during the 2010 season.

BA has 12 A380s on order but says it has "extended" the arrival schedule for the first six by an average of five months.

It says, however, that the first A380 is still expected to arrive in spring 2012, ahead of the London Olympic Games.

But the delivery of the final six has been extended by two years, on average, until autumn 2016.

The carrier had originally been expecting to take delivery of four aircraft per year and complete the introduction of all 12 by autumn 2014.

BA has also stated today that it will ground its last three 757-200s in summer 2010 and another three Boeing 747-400s in winter 2010.

All the fleet changes follow a review of BA's business plan in the "challenging economic conditions".

BA is expecting to cut capacity by 3.5% over the summer 2009 season, compared with a previous estimate of 2.5%, and by 5% over winter 2009-10.

In May, BA stated that it would ground 16 aircraft for the upcoming winter, a total of eight 757-200s and eight 747-400s.