...and they've only just f***ing noticed this?

Were the entire Department of Hindsight and Stating the Bleedin' Obvious on sabbatical at Airbus recently?

What can you expect when they let all the skilled workers go as it was cheaper to keep on the Bottom Neddys on low salaries rather than the more experienced "old"-timers who had half-decent salaries built up over years of loyal service...

I suspect they realised it some time ago, they just wanted to leave announcing it as late as possible in case a minor miracle occurred and someone (ie the workers) pulled the management's collective backsides out the fire (again...)

Dead bird cos... well, it's the A380 again, innit?

Obviously a major issue for the Reg's many plutocratic readers. Go with the butt ugly and delayed A380 or for the very pretty but extremely delayed Boeing 787.

Ah well, neither of them are as pretty or as fast as a VC10 anyway.

That statement looked strange to me too, but I think it means "...steep ramp-up planned in 2006 _TO_OCCUR_IN_2008_ is not fully achievable"