ILFC Says Not Changing Airbus A380 Order

International Lease Finance (ILFC) has no plans for now to delay or cancel orders for 10 Airbus A380s, its CEO said on Tuesday, but may review the contract given the tough economic climate.

Steven Udvar-Hazy said that ILFC, the world's largest plane leasing firm, had the right to cancel or defer any of the orders for the A380 between January 1 and June 30 next year, but that no decision on cancellations or delays had been taken yet.

"We have to decide, do we change the deal," he said on the sidelines of the International Air Transport Association annual meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

"With the global environment and the financial stress in the industry, we have to be very careful. It's not about the aircraft, it's the economic environment, in the next few months, we will have better visibility".

Udvar-Hazy spoke to clarify comments attributed to him on the web site of German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

Asked whether this was a negotiating tactic ahead of the Paris Air Show, he said:

"We're Airbus' biggest customer, it's up to Airbus to cook up something. This is not the time for Airbus to have cancellations."

ILFC, a unit of troubled insurance giant AIG, has never canceled an order before, he said.

Airbus has said it was unaware of any cancellations or moves to cancel.