UPDATE 3-Airbus wins Lufthansa deal, superjumbo fears loom Wed Sep 20, 2006 1:32 =20 =20 Email This Article | Print This Article | Reprints=20 [-] Text [+] (Rewrites, adds Air France, details, shares close)=20 FRANKFURT/PARIS, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Airbus won a plane deal potentially wo= rth over $4 billion from German airline Lufthansa (LHAG.DE: Quote, Profile,= Research) on Wednesday but faced rising media speculation that it will soo= n be forced to announce another embarrassing delay to its new A380 superjum= bo.=20 Lufthansa's supervisory board said it had approved plans to buy 30 single-a= isle planes from Airbus's A320 family, would take options to buy a possible= 30 more and would buy five of the larger A330 model.=20 A spokeswoman for Lufthansa declined to comment on whether the airline had = received a special deal on the A330-300 planes in compensation for delays t= o the 15 A380s it has on order.=20 Lufthansa said it would decide on buying additional mid-sized and larger pl= anes by the year's end.=20 The deal marked a loss for Boeing Co. (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research), whi= ch had on offer its single-aisle 737, but the U.S. planemaker is still in t= he running with its mid-sized 787 and the newest version of the jumbo, the = 747-8.=20 Airbus is also keen to sign up Lufthansa for a desperately needed order for= its fledgling A350 XWB model, and for additional orders of its A380 to pre= vent Europe's second-largest airline from replacing its large fleet of agei= ng Boeing 747 jumbos with newer ones.=20 Airbus's 12-billion-euro ($15 billion) A380 programme to produce a new clas= s of mammoth plane is already overdue and triggered an EADS profit warning = and management shake-up in June.=20 On Wednesday, a report in French newspaper Les Echos, which did not cite an= y sources, said Airbus could announce a delay of at least six months for it= s first deliveries to clients such as Air France (AIRF.PA: Quote, Profile, = Research), and only four deliveries next year to Singapore Airlines (SIAL.S= I: Quote, Profile, Research) and Emirates [EMAIR.UL]. Continued...=20 < Previous 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 Next >=20 =C2=A9 Reuters 2006. All Rights=20 =20 =20 View our videos at: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=3Dewrw4co =20 Roger & Amanda La France