Spain aims to resell half A400M fleet to ease budget

Spain has moved to halve its planned fleet of Airbus A400M military transport planes by offering the rest for export, casting a fresh shadow over Europe's largest defence project as the long-awaited plane goes into service.

The move is the latest sign of pressure on crisis-hit European nations that bought the delayed troop carrier, which itself had to be rescued in 2010 because of a cost blowout blamed on technical, management and political errors.

After a four-year delivery delay, the first A400M flew to its new operating base in Orleans, south of Paris, on Friday.

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