Airbus faces A380 test as SIA weighs lease renewal, says banker

Prague

AIRBUS faces a double test of confidence in the A380 superjumbo in the coming months as Singapore Airlines ponders whether to renew its first lease while the planemaker seeks to bolster new sales, a leading industry banker said.

The South-east Asian airline was the first to fly the world's largest airliner in 2007 and a 10-year lease for its first aircraft expires in 2017. Airlines usually have to give around a year's notice on whether to renew leases for large planes.

Bertrand Grabowski, the board member in charge of aviation at Germany's DVB Bank, told financiers that lease rates for the 544-seat plane could come under pressure if Singapore Airlines either returns the jet or renews the leas…