Airbus seeks $1.2 billion compensation over German Eurofighters
BERLIN/MUNICH (Reuters) - Airbus Group will demand around 900 million euros (741.84 million pounds) compensation from Germany over plans to cancel delivery of a final shipment of Eurofighter jets, a source close to a German parliamentary committee said on Tuesday.
Reuters last week reported that delivery of the last 37 jets, which could cost around 3.2 billion euros, had been cancelled.
Airbus said it would seek compensation but declined to say how much.
"The contract sets out compensation payments if Tranche 3B is not taken up," a spokesman for Airbus told Reuters.
A spokesman for the defence ministry said the amount was in the hundreds of millions.
Daily paper Handelsblatt also reported a figure of 900 million euros earlier on Tuesday.
The German government decided in 2011 that it needed only 147 Eurofighter jets instead of 180. However, it was not clear how the reduction would be achieved.
The air force had wanted to sell some older Eurofighters and still order the 37 newer aircraft, but the financial crisis made the sale difficult.
(Reporting by Sabine Siebold and Jens Hack; writing by Victoria Bryan; editing by Tom Pfeiffer)
