Contract snafu delays 747-8F first delivery

A last-minute decision to scrub the first delivery of the latest generation Boeing 747 was caused by "contract issues" with the European customer, a Boeing executive said on Monday.

Boeing said on Friday it would not make the planned first delivery of its 747-8 Freighter to Cargolux, set for Monday. The plane maker, which had planned three days of celebrations to mark the long-awaited first delivery, did not disclose the problem and referred questions to the customer.

"We had a party planned for today," Randy Tinseth, vice president of marketing at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, told a conference in Barcelona. "We have some contract issues which need to be resolved and we are working on that," he told the ISTAT aircraft trading conference.

Cargolux is 34 percent owned by Qatar Airways.

(Reuters)