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Posted on 12/01/2006 9:01:16 AM PST by lowbuck
EADS is thought to be poised to give the green light to the €10 billion (£6.7bn) Airbus A350XWB airliner programme as early as today.
The go-ahead for the project was delayed last week after the French government blocked a proposal from parent company EADS’s two major industrial shareholders, Lagardère and DaimlerChrysler, to tap the capital markets and new institutional investors to raise funds for the venture.
Instead, France wanted to inflate EADS’s capital base by raising its own stake in the Airbus parent company, an idea opposed by fellow investors.
The setback was a blow for Louis Gallois, the new Airbus chief executive. The A350 go-ahead would have marked the first big decision made by him in the job.
With the troubled A380 superjumbo crisis wiping €4.8 billion off EADS’s profits over the next four years, the group is struggling to finance the A350 without relying entirely on state loans.
A number of reports today suggested the impasse was "90 per cent" overcome, although France’s Les Echos said the outcome of today’s board meeting was still uncertain.
Reuters reported one source close to the EADS board as saying: "There are two outstanding issues: state aid and the German position, but the hardest bits were dealt with yesterday."
It was reported in the Financial Times this morning that Airbus backers France, Germany, Britain and Spain have agreed to guarantee €4 billion euros in external financing. A further €6 billion of development funds would be raised by EADS, possibly through the issue of hybrid debt.
The French government and French media group Lagardère together control 22.5 per cent of EADS. DaimlerChrysler owns another 22.5 per cent but is seeking to sell down its holding.
This summer Airbus revealed that the cost of developing a rival to Boeing's 787 had doubled after its original plans met a lukewarm reception from prospective customers.
A redesign will now see Airbus scrap a fuselage it has used for decades to offer three wider-body variations of A350 – rather than the two originally planned. The revisions saw the cost of the A350 soar.
Of course, in euro eyes there's no subsidy or unfair advantage involved...
That Airbus has more humps than a mutated camel! Who on Earth wants to fly in one of those contraptions?
The A350XWB is to compete against both the 777 and 787. Yes, the fuselage of the XWB is wider than the 787, but it is almost a foot narrower than the 777.
Good luck with that, Airbus.
As of today, I believe Boeing has 455 orders for the 787 and Airbus has a letter of intent from China for 20 A350XWB planes. The A350XWB will be available in 2012, four years after the first scheduled 787 delivery. It appears to me that Airbus and the socialist European nations have a rather odd definition of "competing with Boeing".
The previous A350 used conventional materials. The new A350 PITS (Pie In The Sky) uses composite materials for the fuselage and, perhaps, the wing. Airbus is attempting to push the state of the art to places it has never been before. We have seen how well that works out with the A380 fiasco.
If anybody thinks this thing is going to be developed for 10 Billion Euros, they're dreaming. It will be triple that before Airbus solves all the problems.
They should stick to tried and true technologies. They are coining loot with the A320. Why not just dominate that market?
I just had my first flight on an A320 and I was pleasantly surprised. It was much quieter and smoother than any 737 or 757 that I've ever been on.
However, as you said, Airbus rakes in the dough with the A320, and that aircraft will be slayed by a plastic 737 as Boeing's next project. Airbus won't be able to respond with a plastic A320 until the entire run of plastic 737s is sold out.
By deciding to go with the A350XWB instead of directly to a plastic A320, Airbus has chosen to play catchup with Boeing for the next two decades.
(BTW, Ping to Paleo for his pinglist)
If you want on or off my aerospace ping list, please contact me by Freep mail.
Don't forget the recent Russian buy-in. "Vneshtorgbank, a state-owned Russian Bank, has taken an equity position of a little over 5 percent in EADS, the parent of Airbus – buying up shares in the open market. http://www.themanufacturer.com/us/detail.html?contents_id=4658
That's another 5% government ownership.
The 380 penis envy plane has cost Airbus very very dearly... it will be at least 10-20 years before they fully recover from putting so much effort and resources into that beast, while letting the 350 project fall by the wayside.
Fixing the 350 should have been moved to #1 priority by the company long ago.. but the 380, and all the geopolitcal penis envy wrapped up in it, kept them distracted.
Funny, my experience has been exactly opposite yours. The nose gear shimmy on both of the America West Airbusts scared the crap out of my wife.
I was on a TED (United) A320 and I was amazed at the lack of engine noise, especially the lack of that annoying buzzing noise that I here in a lot of other aircraft. Both landings were amazingly smooth and soft, though this may have been due to the pilots. I didn't notice any nose gear shimmy. Also, the overhead racks were much roomier.
Simple; it's the pEU (or more-specifically, it's not the US) offering the subsidy.
Airbus has screwed the pooch on the 767/A330/787/A350 market. If Airbus went directly to an A320 replacement and let go the A350, they would beat Boeing to that very lucrative market.
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