MADRID – Investors pushed Airbus shares down Monday on Paris’ stock exchange after a military turboprop troop transporter plane undergoing final flight testing in Spain crashed, killing four aboard and injuring two.
Airbus shares were down 4.3 per cent to 60.67 euros ($67.88) as authorities investigated what caused the A400M to crash into a farm field Saturday after taking off from Seville, where the planes are assembled.
The company planned to hold a moment of silence for the dead at all of its installations around the world, Airbus said.
The voice and flight data black boxes were recovered on Sunday and delivered to a Spanish judge in Seville investigating the case, Spain’s presidency said in a statement.
The media office for the judge said Monday it could not immediately provide any information about analysis of the black boxes or the investigation. Spain’s Development Ministry is also investigating the crash.
The plane had been due to be delivered to Turkey after test flights.
Also on Monday, Malaysia confirmed that it was grounding its A400M plane pending results of the crash probe. Although Malaysia only has one of the aircraft, it is scheduled to receive three more.
The country’s decision came after Britain, Germany and Turkey grounded theirs over the weekend and France said it would only use A400M aircraft in urgent operations.
Airbus in January dismissed the head of its military program after governments including Germany, France and Turkey complained about delays in the 20-billion-euro A400M program.
The program has also been plagued by cost overruns. France was the first country to take delivery of an A400M in 2013.
The program was started so governments could replace their aging military Transall C-160s and C-130 Hercules transporter planes.
Twelve A400Ms have been delivered and the company has received 174 orders for the planes from eight countries.
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Associated Press writers Ciaran Giles in Madrid and Jamey Keaten in Paris contributed to this report.
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