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Gulf Air pits Boeing 787 against Airbus A350 Wed Aug 24, 2005 10:30 PM IST COLOGNE (Reuters) - Bahrain-based airline Gulf Air is pitting Boeing's fuel- and cost-efficient 787 against rival Airbus's planned competitor, the A350, as it negotiates with the world's largest aircraft makers to replace its fleet. Gulf Air wants to replace its 34 Boeing 767s and Airbus A320s, A330s and A340s with two plane types -- a wide-body aircraft for long-haul routes and a narrow-body one for shorter distances. Airbus is 80-percent owned by EADS, with the balance held by BAE Systems Plc. The regional carrier would...

LE BOURGET, France (Reuters) - Qatar Airways plans to buy up to 60 of European planemaker Airbus's new A350 mid-size jets in a deal that could be worth $10.6 billion, the Middle Eastern airline said at the Paris Air Show on Monday. Doha-based Qatar also said it planned to buy at least 20 of Boeing Co's larger 777 plane for around $4.6 billion. The deal will give a big boost to Airbus as it tries to build up enough orders to proceed with its A350 project, a rival to Boeing's successful mid-size 787 plane. "The Airbus A350 will be the...

Boeing issued a new challenge to its arch-rival Airbus yesterday, saying it expected to regain its status as the world's biggest supplier of airliners by 2008 at the latest. Alan Mullaly, head of the American group's commercial planes division, delivered a series of damaging blows to its opponent on the eve of the biennial air show at Le Bourget, Paris, which was meant to be a showcase for the European company's A380 super-jumbo. First, he said Boeing was in talks with another 27 airlines over potentially 427 more orders for its new 787 Dreamliner - raising the prospect of nearly...

TOKYO -- With the order count for Boeing's new 787 soaring, John Leahy of Airbus is heading for the Paris Air Show later this month ready to close the gap with his longtime foe. A series of design changes during the last three months to the A350 are nearly complete, and, after a slow start, Airbus finally has the plane that customers say they want, said Leahy, chief commercial officer at Airbus and its bulldog sales chief. Not only is he going after Boeing's 787 with one version of the A350, but he's prepared to take on Boeing's 777-200 with...

NEW DELHI: In a new twist to the controversy over the purchase of aircraft by the Air-India at an estimated cost of over $7 billion, Europe-based aircraft manufacturer Airbus has sough fresh evaluation for the 18 189-seater planes that have been selected for Air-India Express, a fully-owned subsidiary of the national carrier. In a letter to the airline, Airbus has said that selection of aircraft should be done on a typical low-cost configuration. A-I had evaluated the deal on a two-class configuration but finally chose to buy the 18 planes with an all-economy configuration. The Maharajah has favoured purchase of...

Emirates and Qatar Airways the two fast-growing Gulf-based carriers are set to announce a number of firm orders that could add up to somewhere between 100 to 120 aircraft, aviation officials said. The announcement will be made at the forthcoming Paris Air Show to be held from June 13 to 19, according to a Gulf News report from Tokyo. While Emirates is set to order a combination of A350s and Boeing's ultra-long range B777-200LRs, Qatar Airways is set to order as many as 50 to 60 B787s. Following Emirates' recent revelation, Qatar Airways is also set to sign a major...

BRUSSELS – European Union trade chief Peter Mandelson said Tuesday that the EU will file a countercomplaint at the World Trade Organization claiming Boeing Co. receives illegal aid -- launching new trade war with Washington... The U.S. Trade Representative office said it will ask the global trade enforcer to appoint a panel to decide the fate of billions of dollars of government aid doled out on each side of the Atlantic to the two aircraft makers... The dispute is coming to a head now because it is widely believed Airbus will be awarded more than a billion dollars in European...

The United States says it will reactivate a World Trade Organization (WTO) case against European Union subsidies for aircraft maker Airbus. US trade officials said the decision followed the failure of latest efforts to reach a negotiated settlement. Earlier on Monday, Europe made a new offer to the US to cut state aid to help resolve the long-running row. Trade commissioner Peter Mandelson proposed that both sides cut part of their subsidies to Airbus and Boeing. Mr Mandelson suggested both sides then discuss further aid cuts later. According to one report, Brussels has offered to cut aid for the Airbus...

Economy | Europe | USA NEW DELHI - A transcontinental dogfight is being played out in India, underlining the truism that politics and big business go hand in hand. At loggerheads are the European Union, particularly France, and the United States, over a US$7 billion deal for 50 aircraft by India's state-owned international airline Air-India, which has decided to award the contract for its fleet augmentation to Seattle-based Boeing. It was the biggest order ever placed by any Indian corporation - private or public - to a single company. European aircraft giant Airbus Industrie has cried foul, arguing that the...

The United States has warned that it is going to proceed “promptly” with a World Trade Organization (WTO) subsidy case against the European Union (EU) unless the Europeans change their position on aid for the development of new Airbus aircraft. Testifying May 25 before a House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Peter Allgeier said that a negotiated agreement on ending so-called launch aid and other trade-distorting aircraft subsidies would be preferable to litigation. But he added that the Bush administration is “fully prepared” to move forward with the 2004 WTO case and believes it has...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives' Armed Services Committee said on Friday it had voted in effect to shield Boeing Co. from competition from Europe's largest defense contractor for a projected $50 billion U.S. aerial-refueling aircraft market. The panel neither singled out nor named EADS, which wants to offer a tanker version of its Airbus A330 to the U.S. Air Force. Instead, it voted to bar the acquisition of a major weapons system from any foreign company that gets what the United States has protested as a government subsidy barred by the World Trade Organization, said spokesman, Josh Holly....

Nilotpal Basu, chairman of the standing committee on civil aviations, has ruled out the possibility of any kind of probe into the deal between Air-India and the Boeing company on the purchase of 50 aircraft by the official airlines. Speaking to rediff.com on Thursday, Basu said that the talk of a probe by CVC into the deal is absurd. "I think the issue raised by the Airbus is totally unwarranted. If at all there has to be a probe on whether there is any issue of irregularities or Air-India not getting the best price, then it would be done by...

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland's national airline LOT is likely to pick Boeing over rival Airbus in a $500 million-plus tender to lease long-haul jets, a source close to the tender said Thursday. "The final decision is not made yet, but until now the decision process was heading in this direction (picking Boeing)," the source told Reuters. Heavyweight Polish daily Rzeczpospolita reported LOT's supervisory board, due to announce the winner of its tender to lease six long-haul passenger jets next Friday, had opted for U.S. airliners because of lower maintenance costs. Boeing is offering its 787 Dreamliner and Airbus its A330-200...

DUBAI: Qatar Airways will announce a major order for new aircraft at the Paris Airshow next month. “We are talking to both Boeing and Airbus and hope to make an announcement in June,” Qatar Airways chief executive officer Akbar al-Baker told Gulf Times here yesterday on the sidelines of the Arabian Travel Market (ATM). The airline eyes both Airbus A350 and Boeing 787, he said. Asked how many aircraft Qatar Airways would order, al-Baker said that would be announced only during the next month’s Paris Airshow. However, he indicated that it would be a “huge order” for an airline of...

Boeing defends A-I deal; blasts AirbusOnkar Singh in New Delhi | May 04, 2005 15:50 IST Dinesh A Keskar, senior vice president (sales and commercial airplanes), Boeing, strongly defended the deal between Air-India and Boeing for the purchase of 50 787 A, Dreamliner 777-200 Long Range and 777-3000 Extended Range aircraft. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Keskar claimed that no political pressure was used to clinch the deal against the French rival Airbus Industrie who was also in contention to bag the prestigious order. Keskar said: "It is absolutely incredible that Airbus is questioning Air-India's evaluation (for purchase...

The transatlantic tussle has shifted continents and the next confrontation may well take place at the Chief Vigilance Commissioner’s doorstep in New Delhi. Airbus, the France-led consortium, is incensed that it lost the Rs 30,000 crore contract for reinforcing Air India’s fleet to that flying symbol of American hegemony, Boeing. Word is still not out whether Jacques Chirac has been requisitioned to have the Assemblee Nationale to take note of the issue, but hints from Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, are that this strident assertion of American unilateralism will not be tolerated. An US company will not be allowed to wing...

Mumbai, May 2 : Air-India Monday sharpened its attack on Airbus, saying the European plane manufacturer didn't make a proper presentation for a $7-billion aircraft deal despite being given an opportunity. While Airbus has charged the Air-India board with not giving it a "fair treatment" during the finalisation of the long-awaited plane deal that went to Boeing, Air-India termed the outburst as completely "malicious". "They didn't make a proper presentation (before the Air-India board)," Air-India spokesperson Jitendra Bhargava told IANS. "They wanted a complete evaluation of the negotiation process. This was not acceptable to us. Now, they have no business...

LONDON (AFX) - Airbus Industrie is edging ahead of Boeing Co in a race to secure a 6 bln usd (4.6 bln eur) order from Emirates airline for its A350 mid-range aircraft, according to The Business. The newspaper did not name its source, but said Airbus's A350 aircraft is ahead of Boeing's 787 model for an order for up to 50 mid-sized aircraft. Talks between Airbus and Emirates are taking place this weekend. The A350, an A330 derivative, is emerging as favourite because the Boeing flagship plane is too small for Emirates' requirements. Price will also determine the winner, the...

NEW DELHI: Air India(A-I) has taken strong exception to the "misinformation" campaign launched by Airbus Industry after the European consortium lost the over $6.5 billion contract to its arch rival Boeing Aircraft Company for supply of 50 medium and long range capacity jets to the airline. "A-I takes strong exception to the misinformation campaign" by Airbus on the bidding process followed by the airline Board of Directors and termed it as "mischievous and misleading" the public, Air India is understood to have stated in a letter to the Civil Aviation Ministry. The airline board had decided to go in for...

ABU DHABI, APRIL 29: Air-India (A-I) has sought legal opinion to file a suit against Airbus for its outburst against the former’s decision to award a contract to Boeing for the purchase of 50 aircraft for an investment of Rs 30,000 crore. Advertisement A-I has taken strong objection to Airbus’ complaint that the A-I board cleared the Boeing deal without referring it to the Comptroller & Auditor General of India and Chief Vigilance Commissioner. A-I may file a defamation suit against Airbus for questioning its wisdom, expertise and knowledge for the selection of an aircraft supplier, according to observers tracking...