Airbus will now after the A380 flop just get more subsidies and though they have not even recouped the investment to develop the A380 they will begin production with a A350 soon. Nice to be a firm that has no budgetary restraint. If you need more money, just ask the consortium governments backing them. They'll fork out whatever - 13 BILLION dollars by early 2005 was the balance. Of course any mention of this will immediately get the response that a defense contract equates to a subsidy. That is the official "party line" defense. Absurd as it sounds that is literally what they use. Bottom line is that Boeing read the market better, built the right plane for the right customer, has better crash stats for its planes….. but it’s hard to compete when the competition is backed by the financial power of the tax payers in several country’s. Lockheed went broke after the DC-10. De Havilland went down because of the Comet. But Airbus won’t slow down or even loose market share because ultimately any bad management decision will be washed over with more direct financial injections of the Airbus consortium member states. Airbus has a canned market where anything they build the state operated airlines in the respective consortium member states will buy. That’s the reality of how pseudo-state run economies with a close link between business and government work. If Airbus needs hangers – no problem. The tax payer will flip the bill to buy them and put them up at Frankfurt International. State-run airlines, state run airports and a state run aircraft manufacturer – see a little issue here when it comes to “free trade”?
Right now Boeing is doing well, they build a better product, read the market better and though Airbus is being supported through “unfair trade” practices (Although the European court with it’s state picked bureaucrats said this was not an issue). It’s time for Bush to escalate this whole issue. It’s a known fact that Bush has his hands full. Iraq, pre existing tension with part of the EU and and and. Like with the US/Mexico boarder, Bush wants no new issues like this. However, the trade dispute with the EU reference Airbus should be addressed. Bush has largely backed down from the rhetoric in 2000. Obviously this is not his top concern. But it’s something which should be an issue. It’s something which like the boarder issue with Mexico should be forced upon the administration to deal with. If the administration does not want to raise the issue, others should.
Red6
Air-France, Lufthansa and BA operate Boeing, incl iirc the 777. They are not forced to buy Airbus.
I am in India and have no axe to grind vis-a-vis Airbus/Boeing. I am a frequent flyer on both Jet Airways's B737's and Indian Airlines Airbus A320's. I know what i'm saying will get me highly unpopular on this forum, but I prefer the extra leg and elbow room on the Airbus to the somewhat cramped seating on the B737. And the 320 is an excellent product, despite whatever Airbus bashers say. Most new Indian carriers have opted for them over the B737. And I've flown the 732's ( IC ), 733,734,738 and the 739 series.