[galaktiusman]

If Airbus have got their predictions about the nature of air travel over the next decade or two right and the demand is for large capacity aircraft between continental hubs it won't/can't fail. I disagree with this very much. In the airline manufacturing business, you can manufacture yourself into bankruptcy.

[NeroASERCH]

Originally posted by DanS


I disagree with this very much. In the airline manufacturing business, you can manufacture yourself into bankruptcy. Either there is a demand for the product or there isn't. If there is Airbus will get the financial support (read subsidies) to get the planes delivered - and over a 30 to 40 year product run (cf the 747) make a profit or if there isn't the demand they will have to cut production short and build something else.

I can already hear the complaints from (mainly) US posters about subsidies and market distortion. The simple reality is the European governments, particularly the French, have spent a great deal of money to ensure that there is a European competitor in the commercial airliner manufacturing business. They can't afford to drop out now, almost regardless of the cost.

[KukkoDrukko]

I hope they get out of this mess soon. Because IMO the A 380 is a cool plane, and because of the jobs that depend on it. I just hope they will learn from that for the future and do with less mismanagement and political hick hack (does this expression exist in English?) then....

[jackie Obrian]

Originally posted by BeBro
I hope they get out of this mess soon. Because IMO the A 380 is a cool plane, and because of the jobs that depend on it. I just hope they will learn from that for the future and do with less mismanagement and political hick hack (does this expression exist in English?) then.... No the expression doesn't exist in English. Unfortunately, I think we will get more political interference rather than less...

German, French cabinets to debate Airbus crisis

6 October 2006

BERLIN - A joint meeting in Paris next week of the German and French cabinets is to debate the crisis at European aircraft maker Airbus, which this week announced its third postponement of the A380 double-decker jetliner.

Germans are worried that a restructuring at Airbus will move assembly work away from the German city of Hamburg to the Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, France. Paris owns 15 per cent of the Airbus parent company EADS.

A government spokesman, Thomas Steg, said in Berlin that German ministers would seek assurances over workers' jobs and set out views on the future of the EADS (European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co).

But he said the political talks would not pre-empt entrepreneurial decisions, saying, "These things are strictly separated."

German and French ministers hold a two-cabinet meeting twice per year.

In Germany this week, attitudes to France have been hostile amid a perception that the restructuring will mainly cost Germans their jobs whereas French employees will emerge unscathed. Airbus shuttles pieces of its planes among multiple factories to keep all in work.

The EADS labour representation council said Friday in Munich it had been assured by co-CEO Louis Gallois that no decisions had been taken yet on the future of individual factories, nor would this happen without advance discussion.

Although EADS stock has fallen sharply this week because of the stumbling A380 project, governments covet the defence and aerospace group. Russia recently bought 5 per cent and Spain is reportedly hoping to boost its 5.5-per-cent stake to 10 per cent.

The German federal and state governments have hinted this week that they too may seek stakes.

Meanwhile British engineering firm Rolls-Royce said Friday it would suspend for a year the production of one of its major engines, the Trent 900, following delays to the Airbus superjumbo project that they are intended for.

Airbus' flagship A380 planes are now two years late because the company has changed the design software used at the Hamburg plant and must still train engineers in how to use it.

The decision by Rolls-Royce to suspend production comes after leading commercial airlines said they were assessing their positions.

Emirates, Virgin Atlantic, Singapore Airlines and Qantas are among the customer airlines that must use older planes longer or borrow other aircraft while they wait for the A380, which seats about 550 passengers.

In Paris, Airbus denied news reports that its chief executive Christian Streiff was about to resign. A French business newspaper said Streiff, who took over in July, was upset at interference by the French Economy Ministry and by the other EADS CEO, Thomas Enders.

DPA http://www.expatica.com/actual/artic...story_id=33572

[jisee]

By the way, I think the co-CEO of EADS may have made a $15 billion mistake by saying that he couldn't rule out cancellation of the redesigned A350. Airbus has 100 firm orders for the non-redesigned A350, which they have yet to convert to firm orders for the redesigned A350.

Why would anybody among the 100 orders make the conversion, when the future of the project is in doubt?

[gamblingstats]

Are you implying that it doesn't matter what he said, given the reality? Or am I misunderstanding you, and you are agreeing that it was a huge mistake?

[mensforyouthis]

Originally posted by snoopy369
I think he's implying they should cancel the orders for the a350 right now We have a winner!

[Metalhead]

These are not subsidies... but rather genuine economic demand.

[vernotixas]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger


The EU is not the only company that bails out companies.

Isn't Boeing part of the military complex as well? I have to agree with fake boris on this one. Competing and winning actual contracts is not the same as simply giving a company money.

[lymnCymment]

Originally posted by Oerdin
I have to agree with fake boris on this one. Competing and winning actual contracts is not the same as simply giving a company money. I think you missed fakeboris' [/sarcasm] tag.

[golozhopik]

Looks like the heart transplant has been rejected by the patient...

The rumor surfaced Friday and was confirmed by the FT over the weekend...

It's amazing that the affairs of a corporation are the subject of a hastily arranged cabinet meeting and summit between heads of government. Not at all healthy, IMO. And the Russians buying into the company is an interesting twist. Actually, it seems possible that the Russians could provide something of an answer to Airbus's cost structure problem. If you're going to create a geopolitical bastard of a company, you might as well do it completely.

http://business.scotsman.com/latest....6&format=print

Sun 8 Oct 2006
Questions on Airbus chief as more turbulence looms

By Noah Barkin

BERLIN (Reuters) - Plane-maker Airbus faced another stormy week as speculation mounted that CEO Christian Streiff could bolt the firm after just three months in the job and Franco-German tensions rose amid the looming threat of job cuts.
Click to learn more...

An article to appear in Monday's edition of German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported that Airbus parent EADS was searching urgently for a successor to Streiff after he submitted his resignation last week.

Echoing other reports over the weekend, it said EADS had lost confidence in Streiff amid disagreements over his cost-cutting plans for the Toulouse, France-based jet maker.

A spokesman for EADS , Europe's largest aerospace and defence group, declined to comment on the unsourced report, calling it "speculation". Airbus denied its new CEO was leaving when reports of his resignation first surfaced on Friday.

Streiff got a vote of confidence on Sunday from French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who said he should stay. "He is doing a formidable job and there is no reason for Christian Streiff's resignation," Villepin said in a televised interview.

The departure of Streiff would represent another major blow to EADS, which saw its shares tumble last week after it announced new delays in its A380 superjumbo -- a plane it hoped would deliver a knockout punch to U.S. rival Boeing .

Formed in 2000 from a merger of leading German and French aerospace firms, EADS had hoped Streiff would be the man to turn around Airbus, whose previous chief Gustav Humbert and EADS co-CEO Noel Forgeard were forced out in July because of problems with the A380.

The world's largest airliner is now two years behind schedule as engineers struggle to overcome wiring problems.

In response, Streiff has vowed to cut costs, saying deep changes are needed at its network of manufacturing sites. But his plans appear to have run into resistance in EADS management circles as well as the French and German governments.

EADS has pledged to consult workers before selling plants or cutting jobs, but that has not allayed deep concerns in Germany that the 12,000 staff who work for the firm in Hamburg are at risk. German politicians have warned the firm that looming arms deals could be at risk if jobs go.

FRANCO-GERMAN TENSIONS

The problems are rekindling Franco-German tensions that have plagued the firm since its creation and burst into the open last year amid a power struggle led by Forgeard -- the Frenchman who launched the A380 project.

In a weekend magazine article, German Defence Minister Franz-Josef Jung warned against the French gaining too much influence in EADS, which has a dual-management structure to preserve Franco-German balance.

"We must prevent things from moving in the direction of the French," Jung was quoted as saying in Der Spiegel.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Jacques Chirac are due to meet in Paris on Thursday and will discuss the firm's problems.

The German government is believed to be worried that France or Russia could seek to boost their stakes in EADS, upsetting its delicate shareholder balance.

The French government owns 15 percent of EADS, while German car-maker DaimlerChrysler and French media group Lagardere are reducing their stakes to 22.5 percent and 7.5 percent, respectively.

Last month a Russian state bank bought a 5 percent stake in the firm. Speculation surfaced over the past week that Berlin could also buy into the firm to safeguard its interests, but the government has said it has no current plans to do so.

[Mereebirl]

As with your steel industry ?

and probably many others...

[Guaranano]

Price. The Eclipse is $1.5 million. The Cessna is at $2.6 million.

[blackjackblax]

Cessna has propeller planes that it might make sense to protect. Eclipse doesn't have such legacy products.

On the other hand, even though the Eclipse avionics package is getting excellent reviews, the Cessna is getting good reviews on its interior design. It better, for $1.1 million extra.

[glazgoR@]

Originally posted by TCO
Let the free market handle it. Sing it, brother!

[Alulursuifold]

1. Louis Gallois has been running companies for 17 years. Including Aerospatiale (EADS' ancestor) for 4 years. He's not exactly a rookie, nor a politician, nor an inefficient-minded bureaucrat.
OTOH, he's used to manage companies with close ties with the French government.
That's quite unlike Christian Streiff, who had never touched aviation until three monthes ago, and who had no understanding of the French government, one of his main shareholders.

2. Streiff's restructuring plan will be kept.