Congressman Mica says no to Fed-funded A380 airport improvements

[Alty]

I think it makes sense for the carriers introducing the A380 to foot a significant portion of the costs to accommodate it - especially since we are talking about foreign carriers for the most part. In some cases, such as FedEx at Memphis, the freighters so they don't have to deal with terminal modifications. But the primary federal funding would probably involve runway/taxiway inprovements, bridges, etc. I thought the carriers typically did pay, one way or another, for significant terminal improvements.

A comparison to the 747 in the early 70's seems sort of inappropriate because they were only about a dozen years into the jet age, which was driving growth and needed upgrades anyway, and the DC-10 and Tristar also were widebodies added at the same time. The projected combined numbers of these widebodies at the time far exceeds the number of A380's that will ultimately be built - 200 is probably a stretch, unless Airbus wants to give them away for $150 million like the first 100 were.

For anyone from Europe to scream "protectionism" or "subsidies" is sort of amusing. The EC has blocked mergers of US companies simply because of inflated egos and obvious protectionist policies. Airbus will only have to pay back some of the subsidies if the program makes a profit. For the A380, that looks like a longshot. The A350/A390 probably has a much better chance to turn a profit - but the subsidies will be much larger, and the Europeans will have to start thinking about accepting longer work weeks. But that is fine - the world needs more than one viable transport manufacturer - and the challenges facing Airbus in a graying continent with ridiculous labor laws are enormous.

But I should add that this Mica clown's other proposals are ludicrous and will never see the light of day. The "tell the country of origin" is really not worth the concern - most people with enough money to fly are smart enough to know that Boeing is U.S. and Airbus is Europe - and all they care about is the price of the ticket anyway.