I mentioned a few weeks ago that there were some issues with the finances on Mitsubishi Heavy Industries[MHI] part:
MHI booked a ¥60bn loss on the two AIDA ships. Design and procurement costs due to changes made by AIDA said to be the cause
— CruiseInd (@cruiseind) March 28, 2014
Now MHI has stated that they will be delaying the first ship of the order by six months. Originally scheduled for a March 2015 launch, the date was pushed back to at least October 2015.
Hansjörg Kunze, AIDA spokesman :
MHI asked us for more time to complete the construction of AIDAprima. Although we were surprised by the request, it is nothing unusual for the construction of prototypes. With AIDAprima we will receive something very special – the prototype of a whole new AIDA generation.
I can’t recall the last time that a European yard delayed a prototype by that much.