Airbus CEO Tom Enders told German newspaper Bild am Sonntag that the massive problems the plane manufacturer has been facing with its military transporter Airbus A400M Atlas, were on behalf of the company itself.

“We underestimated the engine problems,” Tom Enders commented on the A400M development program. He told that Airbus let itself be persuaded into using the Europrop TP400 engine that was made by an inexperienced consortium - Europrop International, a joint venture among MTU Aero Engines, Snecma, Rolls-Royce, and Industria de Turbo Propulsores. However, Tom Enders took all the responsibility for the decision.

Despite the program delays, Tom Enders believes in the potential of A400M and claims the governments should not write it off. He said that the transporter would “form the backbone of the European transporter fleets.”

The Airbus A400M Atlas a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft that can also perform aerial refueling and medical evacuation missions. The A400M programme was launched in May 2003 but was shadowed by delays and constant engine problems, with scepticism, that company could not break even without selling the aircraft outside NATO members. As of April, 2016, there have been 174 plane orders and 23 deliveries.