Posted on 02/22/2005 7:50:29 AM PST by wk4bush2004
LONDON (AP) The leaders of Britain, France and Germany have sent letters to the Polish government recommending it purchase planes from French company Airbus rather than U.S. rival Boeing Co.
Arkadiusz Godun, an adviser to Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka, confirmed Tuesday that British Prime Minister Tony Blair, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder had made their case for Airbus but said Belka had not made a decision on which planes to buy for the national airline.
"The prime minister received three letters from the three individuals and he acquainted himself with the offers but has not made any decisions," Godun said. "Each of the offers pointed out the positive qualities of the European offer."
Poland's national carrier LOT currently has an all-Boeing fleet of large planes, plus 16 smaller Embraer jets and 13 propeller-driven Aerospatiale-Alenias.
Airbus and Boeing have carried out a long trans-Atlantic rivalry to dominate the aerospace market.
Airbus has staked its future on demand for massive planes to transport a growing number of passengers, unveiling the world's largest commercial jet, the double-decker A380 "superjumbo," in January.
Chicago-based Boeing sees a different future, one in which industry deregulation and smaller, long-range planes like its planned two-aisle 787 Dreamliner -- scheduled to debut in 2008 -- allow passengers increasingly to fly direct, spurning stopovers.
Are they also proposing that Poland buy their computers from Bull? (anyone remember them? anyone? anyone?)
The operating costs on the 380 are going to be ridiculous. It is an amazing piece of engineering but it is a behmoth and will costs an outrageous amount of effort to maintain. If I get a chance to fly one I certainly will. I would much rather be cocooned in American engineering though. Airbus has a bad record of flight control problems. As for the French pushing their will on Poland, I don't think it will have much effect. This appears to be an act of desperation.
It will come down to COST, and the Euro's have a way of making the Airbus "cheaper"...
And another things is filling the plane up. An airline will absolutely not make money on the A380 unless they fill it up. And the limited number of serviceable airports around the world is also a big minus.
The Boeing 787 is the way to go. It's fast, innovative, comfortable and can get customers where they want to go.
By cheating.
Any aviation company can build Airplanes. It comes down to Business decisions.
I do question the feasibility of the 380 having to fly only to a few hubs. This system has proven to be the downfall for many mainstream companies. We will see the reults in about 15 years.
Right now the 380 is having some problems with weight and the maiden voyage is being delayed.
Agreed. I was loading up on a 767-400 in ATL a couple of weeks ago and it took nearly an hour to board the aircraft. I think Boeing has made amazing leaps with the 777 series. In my opinion it is the most amazing aircraft on the market. Unfortunately, I have not had the pleasure of traveling on one yet.
Absolute non-sense. It is not an army of occupation! You do realise that the Luftwaffe sit and have sat with dual-key US nuclear weapons.
I have and the 777 is definately an amazing aircraft. It is comfortable and has a wide, spacious cabin. The flights are smooth and the power from those two engines is incredible. The 777 is definately better than the A340.
Next thing you know France will want Poland and Thailand to buy a nuclear aircraft carrier from them.
Good thing Bent is not in office so Airbus could cry to him again and get Boeing called off.
God, I'm growing to hate these Euro people.
They might be Americas biggest enemy. Bush should get the he-- out of there.
When Boeing decided on the 787 rout, they were being criticized. Everyone was talking about the AirBus techonology was going to leave Boeing in the snow drift. Now it looks like it's just the opposite. Allot of marketing is already going on to sell the AirBus. Did anyone see John Revolta hawking it last week? It looks like a marvelous plane. But is it safe and reliable. How long is going to take to deplane and get your luggage? I mean think about that for a minute. You spend two hours on either end of a flight from Paris to New York? The Boeing 787 has an incredible range and you in and out.
I think the winner is going to be Boeing. Did Concorde ever make money?
nick
Most engine manufacturers use the same testing regime for their engines on large commercial turbofans. Ice ingestion, rain ingestion, bird strikes (frozen and thawed), compressor blade failure containment are all standard protocol. Airbus's engines are not unique in this standpoint.
The 787 is the same as 7E7,right?
I saw the 7E7, beautiful aircraft.
I think I heard that there are only four airports in the US that can accomodate it without major modifications.
It's a nice cozy story and first broke on the back of the Tsunami disaster. The Thai Airways orders for A380s was placed in August 2004. This was of course before any Tsunami or row over prawns. It's amazing how a "EU bashing" "France bashing" story can do the rounds on the web!
At one point Thailand morphed itself into Cambodia on Freepers. Subsequently some Freepers were in uproar about poor Cambodia being forced to buy these gigantic airliners.
I was talking about Boeing's engines being tested not airbus'. The report said that they are the best tested engines ever. I think the 787 will be the safest most reliable plane ever made.
nick
Tsunami-hit Thais told: Buy six planes or face EU tariffs
FRASER NELSON
POLITICAL EDITOR
Thailand has been told by the European Commission that it must buy six A380 Airbus aircraft if it wants to escape the tariffs against its fishing industry.
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=66782005
This article claims the Scotsman got it wrong. Notice, as of Jan 27 the deal still was not final.
Thursday, January 27, 2005 – Thailand and the EU - who's really playing hardball? As it turns out, the European Union seems not to have put the screws to Thailand over its purchase of the new A380 airliner.
The issue, as reported by The Scotsman newspaper, was that the EU was raising the tariff on Thai-exported prawns, a kind of large shrimp, unless Thailand agreed to buy more super-jumbo Airbus A380 planes at about a half-billion each.
But as EUBusiness now reports, The Scotsman got it wrong.
A major aircraft deal between Thailand and European consortium Airbus is likely to go ahead
http://www.donaldsensing.com/2005/01/thailand-and-eu-whos-really-playing.html
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.