The government of South Africa has decided to drop out of the costly Airbus military transport project, dpa quoted an Airbus spokesman as saying. Jacques Rocca told the German Press Agency dpa that authorities in Johannesburg have annulled their planned purchase of eight A400M planes. Rocca would not comment on reports that the contract was worth some 830 million euros (1.32 billion dollars). Airbus regrets South Africa"s decision, he said. The project was moving forward. According to unofficial reports, Airbus is hoping to carry out a maiden flight of the aircraft in about four weeks. However, problems in the plane"s technical development have delayed delivery of the aircraft by three years.
