Posted on 12/11/2004 9:23:02 PM PST by El Conservador
PARIS (Reuters) - The president of European planemaker Airbus said on Saturday he hoped to win around 50 orders for the new wide-body jet A350 by next June.
The four-billion-euro A350 -- a spin-off of the earlier A330 -- is Airbus's response to Boeing's first all-new plane of the 21st century, the efficient 7E7 which is due in the air in 2008.
"I hope to get in some 50 orders for the A350 from now till the Salon du Bourget (plane fair), in June 2005," Noel Forgeard told Le Monde daily in an interview.
Airbus, 80 percent owned by European aerospace giant EADS (EAD.PA), won approval from its shareholders on Friday to unleash a fresh marketing battle against arch-rival Boeing (NYSE:BA - news) by seeking orders for the A350.
Philippe Camus, co-CEO of EADS, said the A350 was part of a long-term strategy for Airbus, taking both companies' needs and technological progress into account.
"We hope to have orders very quickly," Camus told Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper in an interview to be published on Sunday.
Boeing has 52 orders for the 7E7 out of an original target of 200 by the end of this year, and Airbus made plain it saw at least half of the remaining 148 as low-hanging fruit.
The two future jets will battle for orders in a mid-sized market that Boeing estimates to be worth $400 billion.
"In the short term, we stay ahead of Boeing in terms of plane deliveries," Camus said. "We will deliver between 350 and 360 aircraft in 2005, that's above Boeing's forecasts."
LEADERSHIP BATTLE
Turning to the construction of the A380, Forgeard said research and development costs for the 555-seat double-decker would be higher than expected.
"It is right that on the costs for research and development, the estimate of $10.7 billion will be exceeded," he said.
Asked whether the higher costs were in the range of between 500 million and 1.5 billion euros, he said: "We are actually in this range, and this penalizes the economic balance of the program very little."
"We will reach all our economic objectives, including the 10 percent profit regarding turnover for 2005, despite the surcharges expected," he said.
Forgeard said the firm had taken several measures which helped it cope with the fall in the value of the dollar.
"All these measures are placing us in a very good situation to assure our profitability until 2008," he said.
Forgeard said he was not leading a campaign to become co-president of EADS.
"I am leading no campaign and I'm not responsible for this agitation. The decision to nominate a French co-president is up to Arnaud Lagardere, and him alone," he said.
EADS co-CEO Camus faces a fierce challenge from Forgeard for the top French job at EADS, where executive power is shared between French and German officials.
Asked about the reports about his succession by Le Journal du Dimanche, Camus referred to his achievements over the last five years and added: "As to what concerns the due dates to come, I leave it up to the shareholders to decide."
The French state and Lagardere own 15 percent each of EADS which was formed in 2000 during a restructuring of European aerospace activities. Daimler Chrysler owns 30 percent.
And... the stupid French gov't., in all their wisdom, only allows their workers a 35 hr. per week employment. The French socialists implemented this about 6-7 years ago, 'thinking' that this notion would reduce unemployment. Well, it's been a long time, and their unemployment is double ours. My guess is, when the Islamists murder two thirds of France, there will be an improvement. The Eiffel Towere will be a transmission tower for the five dailey calls to worship on the butt-sniffers kneeling and sniffing on the flying carpets of hate and destruction of mankind.
Pushing that train up the hill with the engine off.
This whole article is a free advirsisement for Airbus... I'm sure Boeing hopes it will sell 50 777's also... uhhh...
Let's hope the Dollar drops another 15% or so. That'll make Airbus airplanes absolutely the worst possible choice for countries that use the dollar or countries pegged to the dollar.
In other words, USA and China, among the biggest airplane purchasers at this time won't touch airbus.
I'm less concerned about the physical plane I fly on rather than on who checks the baggage.
Reuters always has this real obsession with the airline industry and touting Airbus...
I'm used to it. Some of my European friends bring up the increasing Airbus plane deliveries as if it is something that they personally accomplished and testifies to the brilliance of Europeans across the board.
The politics over Airbus is just ridiculous.
>I'm less concerned about the physical plane I fly on rather
>than on who checks the baggage.
It was an Airbus plane, whose command system failed, thus rendering a plane that refused orders to land, thus an Airbus engineer had to be woken from sleep to talk the crew through disengaging the command system in-flight, so that the place would not fall out of the sky for lack of fuel.
When I used to work at United Airlines main maintenance base at San Francisco airport, I enjoyed walking out back and strolling amongst the Boeings and Airbusess parked there.
Being a Business IT person, and not an aerospace professional, I used to like to stop and ask the mechanics questions about the aircraft. What most of them told me was that Boeing aircraft are built to last about 50 years, while an Airbus is built to last about 20 years. One told me, as an example, that a wire harness that is made out of metal in a Boeing aircraft is made out of plastic in an Airbus aircraft.
So, Boeings are built more "sturdy" to begin with, and as a result are more expensive. Airbus aircraft are made more cheaply, and are designed to be "throw away" aircraft, according to what I was told. If you own an Airbus jetliner, you'll be replacing it in 20 years, by design. I was told that as a result, Airbus aircraft cost less than Boeings. But you will own two (or more) of them during the same time you own one Boeing aircraft.
In addition to that, I was also told that Airbus is selling their planes to airlines far below their actual cost, just to get them out there. Another mechanic told me that Airbus gave United such rediculously low price quotes, that United would have been crazy to refuse to purchase them. In short Airbus made them an offer they couldn't refuse!!!! I am sure that Airbus has probably done this with the other major airlines too. If the European governments are truly subsidizing Airbus, as many say, then it explains how they can come into the USA and undercut Boeing.
In recent newspaper articles I have read, they said that Boeing has tried to make this same case to the U.S. government, and other regulatory entities. Airbus has fired right back though, making the accusation that that Boeing is subsidized by the U.S. government just as much, if not more, than Airbus is subsidized. Their rationale?? They pointed to Boeing's aerospace and defense subsidiaries, which are much larger, and make a lot more money, than Boeings commercial airline manufacturing business. Airbus claims that the heavy sales of these other subsidiaries to the U.S. government, with virtually no competition, amounts to a subsidy for their commercial aircraft division. Airbus says that as a result, Boeing's commercial aircraft division has no right to try to restrict Airbus's access to any markets with claims of unfair competition. Airbus claims that Boeing's much larger and more profitable Defense and Aerospace Divisions are more than covering the losses over at their Commercial Aircraft Division. As a result, Airbus says there is NO WAY they will stop taking subsidies from the European governments. They are very much on the offensive against Boeing on this point.
Airbus has even gone so far as to open up offices here in the U.S. My memory is a bit fuzzy on the point, but Airbus might even be thinking about building aircraft manufacturing plants here in the U.S so that they can compete with Boeing more directly.
I have not read any additional articles on this topic lately, so I do not know how Airbus's argument is playing out on the world stage. However, I do hate to see Boeing take a pummeling from those arrogant Euro-pukes. I think Boeing should have gone ahead with the Stratocruiser. The "coolness" factor of that aircraft would have put Airbus to shame (whether or not the aircraft was feasible from an economic standpoint is another story, and I am not sure of the answer to that one). However, the Stratcruiser was a sweet looking bird!!
Meanwhile, let's find out which airlines retain lobbyist Mrs. Tom DASCHLE and fly these French Airbus jets--and boycott them big time. Please ping me with such info.....thanks!
Also, keep in mind that Orbitz has a huge history of catering to the homosexuals. Go elsewhere, or buy direct from the airlines.
I guess it has to do with so many years being behind and now being triumphant...
In terms of suspicious corporate practices, like bribery, accounting issues, and kickbacks, Airbus is clearly as dirty as gets. And the European taxpayers fund it all...
I wouldn't taxi in an Airbus.
I don't like to fly for various reasons. Fear of crashing isn't really one of them, unless I rode in an Airbus. Then I'd be terrified.
My only comment is that Mrs Dasshole won't have any influence for the bean counters.
Homos, transgendered, lesbos, whatever, it doesn't matter. If the dollar drops out some more, Airbus has no competative edge at all. In fact it becomes an achor about the neck of whomever orders airplanes. Boing becomes tasty and that's an American business. Keep the dollars at home.
Are Boeing's sold in EUrope?
We need to tighten the screws on Airbus. It's all subsidized.
Airbus is just one of many of the divisions under the EADS umbrella. EADS is essentially the European Defense company. The few that are left are in some joint venture or joined at the hip with EADS. The argument that Boeing is subsidized by US Government due to Government Contracts is a joke. Airbus or EADS for that matter have Government Contracts as well. The difference is that the French Government and other European Governments dump money into EADS and the various divisions to under cut American business. Thats not the only industry they do that in either. On top of that the damn company is partially owned by the Governments involved. While Boeing is solely privately owned. Boeing also has competition(not much) in the domestic defense industry, were as EADS has some competition from Daimler(which most of those contracts are joint) and the few Brit/Italian/Eastern European companies(which are also do mainly joint contracts).
Besides the fact that Boeing's new 7E7 will likely sport lower fuel burn than the A350, the A350 is NOT the type of plane that many airlines want. What airlines want is a true replacement for the rapidly-aging Airbus A300B/A310 fleet, and it appears that Boeing will win this niche with the medium-range 7E7-3 version.
"Meanwhile, let's find out which airlines retain lobbyist Mrs. Tom DASCHLE and fly these French Airbus jets..."
Seeing who flies the Airbus jets is easy - just stroll down to your local airport, or go look on airliners.net.
Unfortunately, a huge percentage of U.S. airlines already fly Airbus (as I said in my previous post, money talks, and I am told that Airbus has been selling their aircraft to U.S. airlines dirt cheap!!). From my time working at San Francisco Airport, I remember seeing Airbus aircraft being flown by a large portion of the major airlines: United, American, Northwest, and U.S. Airways - and those are just the one's that I can remember off the top of my head - I am sure there are others. Also, that northern appendage of the United States - Canada - has a major Airline called Air Canada, and THEY fly Airbus -I include them because Canada is almost a part of the United States anyway!!!. :)
[I duck as our Canadian bretheren bombard me with maple leaves!!]
In addition, some of the newer low cost airlines in the U.S. fly Airbus too - like AmericaWest, and JetBlue. In fact, JetBlue is an all-Airbus airline (which isn't surprising since Richard Branson, of Virgin Atlantic Airlines fame, is a major JetBlue investor and advisor). JetBlue is currently the darling of Wall Street, so they have little incentive to divest themselves of Airbus.
Furthermore, the new startup airline at Washington D.C.'s Dulles airport, Independence Air, is planning on purchasing a lot of Airbus aircraft (fortunately, that bratty, belligerant, left-wing airline looks like it is going to stumble and fall right out of the starting blocks - that's what they get for hiring James Carvelle as a spokesman, and making such a big point of contributing to lesbian/gay organizations and events - not going to go over too well in the "Red States" if that is ever talked about extensively).
As I said, there are probably a lot more U.S. airlines that are already flying Airbus aircraft, but I only listed those that I can think of right off the top of my head.
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