The Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street This Week

2. Airbus: Just Plane Slow

The troubles at Airbus are giving Boeing (BA Quote) a nice lift.

Airbus, the European aerospace consortium, this week detailed a seven-month production delay for its huge A380 double-decker airliner. Airbus says "industrial issues" will cut scheduled 2007 deliveries of the new plane by more than half, to nine. The news sent shares of Airbus' publicly traded parent, European Aeronautic Defense & Space (EADS), down 26% Wednesday in Paris.

Airbus had already pushed production of the A380 back by six months. But the A380 isn't the only problem in Toulouse, where Airbus is based. The CEO of Singapore Airlines recently criticized the A350, saying Airbus' redesign wasn't sweeping enough to keep up with the competition.

Boeing has pushed ahead, ringing up orders for its fuel-efficient 787. Singapore Airlines on Wednesday ordered 20 new 787s, saying the airplane would "further its commitment to innovation and improvement in providing service, comfort and entertainment to customers."

Meanwhile, Boeing shareholders must be finding plenty of comfort, not to mention entertainment, in the ranting of Airbus' top management.

"We have a serious issue with the industrial ramp-up of the A380," said the co-CEOs of EADS, Tom Enders and Noel Forgeard, in an understatement Wednesday. "We expect Airbus management to fully deliver according to the revised schedule and, if possible, even to improve."

That shouldn't be hard.

Dumb-o-Meter score: 90. "This announcement came as a big blow," Forgeard said on a conference call, MarketWatch reports. "But we will create recovery."

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