Posted on 01/15/2009 9:33:48 AM PST by lewisglad
Airbus is preparing to offer incoming US president Barack Obama a special A380 superjumbo to replace the ageing Air Force One Boeing 747 jumbo jet, it emerged today.
Tom Enders, chief executive, said the US was already thinking about new aircraft for the presidential fleet and it was "not completely absurd" to consider the superjumbo as an alternative. It can carry as many as 840 passengers and is the European plane-maker's flagship, with one sold to a Gulf sheikh.
But Enders said it was "much too early to speculate" and Airbus was concentrating on winning the re-run $40bn (£27bn) Pentagon contract for 179 air-to-air refuelling (tanker) aircraft against Boeing.
Airbus won the contract last year after one of the fiercest lobbying battles ever witnessed on Capitol Hill, but the Pentagon later revised the tender under congressional pressure. Enders said Airbus had won that contest fairly and intended to win again provided it was on a level playing field.
Under George Bush, the White House shocked US plane-makers by awarding the contract to renew the presidential fleet of helicopters to Anglo-Italian company AgustaWestland, part of Finmeccanica.
There are some fears within the European aviation industry that Obama, with his Chicago base, could favour Boeing, which has its headquarters in the "windy city" and carries enormous congressional influence.
But senior sources said this week that the new president, who is inaugurated on Tuesday, would be determined to be impartial. Airbus has won congressional friends, particularly in the south, by setting up plants in states such as Alabama and Mississippi.
The A380, which has won 198 orders from 16 customers, is the world's biggest plane, but Airbus claims it is at least 25% more fuel-efficient than the venerable 747 and emits far fewer greenhouse gases a key Obama preoccupation.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
I don’t think Obama would be stupid enough to take the Airbus....but these days.
Keep the plane airbus...send the money.
“Aging Air Force One.” AF1 is only 8 years old. lol.
With the deficit at its highest ever and more tax dollars coming out of my pocket, I repaired my paid-off car rather than buy a new one.
Obama better not buy a new plane.
I’d like to see them go with a smaller plane. Let the reporters and hangers-on fly commercial.
Chicago style politics comes to DC
heh - at 840 passengers it sounds like a gas-guzzler to me...
why not a Beechcraft for a CHANGE
Dem blasts Obama econ team's 'mumbo jumbo'
the hill ^ | Today | By Alexander Bolton
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2164064/posts
Posted on 1/13/2009 4:08:23 PM by jessduntno
Don’t think so. IIRC, it requires a longer runway, restricting the number of places it can go by quite a bit.
Well I can see why he needs a bigger plane, he needs room for that enormous ego.
What’s wrong with Airbus? Using Zer0 as advertising?
The euro government creation of this albatrosse is the
ideal Obama.
I thought the Airbloat was so big it couldn’t land at most airports. With the global economy tanking, I think it would be hard to sell jumbo cattle cars.
This comes from the envious euro snobs.
Dittos! I laughed when I read “aging airforce one”
Those would be klingons...
I thought Clinton took delivery of that plane in his first year as president. If so, the aircraft is 17 years old now. Gee how time flies when you’re getting screwed...
I thought he’d opt for something made by Ilyushin.
Well, I really meant smaller than a 747. The new dreamliner might be just about the right size.
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