Airbus Paris Air Show Party On Hold (Merged)

[Wycombe]

It was sat on the Airbus Flight Test flightline when I was in TLS on Weds evening.

[HectorusRex]

I can assure Jimmy Tap that I saw and read the opening page.
I sugest that he reads the Press Centre to confirm what I posted.


Paris Air Show 2005
13 June 2005
Le Bourget Airport, France

Airbus will have a major presence at the biennial Paris Air Show – the world’s most prestigious aerospace industry event. The company will spotlight its entire product line, from the A318 to the A380.

This states here that the entire product line will be spotlighted.
In view of the delay of the go-ahead for the A350, it is highly significant that this is not even mentioned in Airbus' press releases.

Time WILL tell.

More trouble reported for Airbus.

Airbus executive row erupts after A380\'s delay
David Gow in Brussels Thursday June 2, 2005 The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/s...497117,00.html

Airbus, the European plane-maker, yesterday suffered a double blow when Noel Forgeard, its outgoing chief executive, blocked the planned appointment of his successor by demanding more power as the co-head of parent company, EADS.
The world\'s leading aircraft-manufacturer also admitted that deliveries of its A380 superjumbo, due to be the centrepiece of the Paris air show this month, would be delayed by up to six months and it could face hefty compensation claims from airlines. The first commercial flight may now be postponed until 2007.
Article continues These setbacks came just a day after Airbus was plunged into a costly and lengthy legal dispute at the World Trade Organisation between the European Union and United States over allegedly unlawful subsidies for Boeing, its arch-rival, and itself.
It is understood that the board of EADS, which owns 80% of Airbus, was forced to shelve a decision about Mr Forgeard\'s successor for at least a week because of his demands for a radical overhaul of the parent board\'s structure, including the appointment of two deputy chief executives.
The French, German and Spanish group has been split asunder for months by rows between its dominant French and German shareholders - the French state and media group Lagardère versus DaimlerChrysler - over the succession to the former chief executives, Rainer Hertrich and Philippe Camus.
Gustav Humbert, the plane-maker\'s chief operating officer, was set to become its first German chief executive with EADS board approval yesterday, but Mr Forgeard is said by insiders to have come out with last-minute proposals to enhance his powers at the parent company. He will be co-chief executive with Tom Enders, now head of the defence division.
Mr Forgeard, architect of Airbus\'s success in overtaking Boeing in terms of aircraft sales, is a close ally of President Jacques Chirac and his latest demarche was linked to Mr Chirac\'s crushing defeat in Sunday\'s referendum on the EU constitution. French board members are said to have dug in behind his new demands.
After his demands for executive control of Airbus in his new post at EADS had been rejected, Mr Forgeard is said to want board changes that would enhance his role by removing executives. "We hope a compromise solution can be reached next week," sources said.
It is not excluded, however, that he could lose his shared leadership role at EADS if the prolonged row is seen by shareholders as damaging to the company. Its shares have risen sharply since the dramatic fall in the euro against the dollar but fell yesterday on news of the A380 delays.
Singapore Airlines, the launch customer, said last month that it would take delivery of its first A380 in the final quarter of 2006 rather than in mid-year and Qantas and Air France yesterday pointed to six-month delays in deliveries of their orders. Emirates, the biggest customer with 43 planes on order, will also be affected.
The airlines, which blame "manufacturing issues" at Airbus, will seek compensation over the delays to the A380, which has already been hit by overruns of €1.5bn and seen its maiden flight postponed

[JimmyTAP]

I can assure Jimmy Tap that I saw and read the opening page.

That's why I said it was a hint - it is not a confirmation by any means. They may have to leave confirmation until late due to operational reasons.
Running a flight test programme is complex and difficult and there will be many factors that have to be considered.

It is always a difficult decison to allow a test aircraft to fly at an airshow when it should really be continuing the test programme. It is taking 10 days or so out of the programme that Airbus can ill-afford. But can they afford the embarrassment of it not being at Paris. That is the decision they have to take.

Test programmes I have been involved with suffer major disruption to allow aircraft to fly at Farnborough or Paris and commercially it is of doubtful value nowadays. I suspect Airbus want to display it for prestige reasons only. Airlines are not going to order the aircraft solely on an appearance at Paris.

I'm sure Airbus will be doing their best to make sure the aircraft is at Paris.

JT.

[too_sleepy]

Any of you guys going to the show?

[Globaliser]

too_sleepy: Any of you guys going to the show?

Only if the A380 is flying.

(Although I may yet get pangs of guilt at throwing away yet another air ticket and fly it just to have a day off and out of the office.)

[411A]

Keep it all in perspective, guys & gals

A few older folks can clearly remember the delays with the original B747 some years ago....'ovalation' of JT-9 engines being the biggest problem, among others.

New aeroplane...sometimes rather big difficulties (read expensive)...

[ChewyTheWookie]

Slightly off topic, but what is that piece of string type thing hanging off the rudder of the 777 in the picture?

[Tallbloke]

Looks like a parachute drogue to me.

[heywood u bleume]

The thing hanging off the 777 tail is a static pressure source for the instruments as the normal fuselage static ports have to to have their pressure error corrections calibrated during flight test. The location on a trailing drogue removes the ports from the airframe's pressure field. It can be removed once PECs are done.

HUB

[Row 12F]

Enlarged A380

A referenced Airbus (?) site
( http://www.airbusa380.com/index.shtml )
from an earlier part of this thread tells me that "Airbus is said to be studying a lengthened version of the A380, the A380-900, which would be 7 cm longer."

Perhaps they are straining on a gnat.

[rubik101]

HectorusRex seems another of those posters who just want to slag off Airbus for the sake of being a slagger! Does he have shares in Boeing? If so, sell them now is my advice. Boeing will dissappear down the pan in years to come if they carry on the way they are at the moment. And btw, where are these customers who are 'screaming' for compensation? Evidence please Hector.

[Mr @ Spotty M]

HectorusRex

This is where http://www.airbus.com/en/myairbus/he...news/index.jsp l saw it.

[rubik101]

So where are the 'screaming' customers demanding compensation from the rubbish Airbus company that you mention in your first post Hector?

" in the first A380 deliveries and some carriers are screaming they want compensation as a result."

[Tan]

rubik101

I’ve flown both manufactures airplanes and like them both. It would be nice if a single manufacture could produce an aircraft with the best of both in it but that’s never going to happen.

For anyone to forecast the demise of either manufacture is sort of naïve as it’s never going to happen in the short term. Back to the original comment concerning compensation for late delivery of the -380 of course that’s going to happen. But I’d rather have an aircraft delivered late with all the bugs out of it then the other way around.

I don't understand why you're making such the big deal of paying compensation. It happens, as it's considered normal in the business world.

Cheers..

[HectorusRex]

Since Rubic appears unable to follow the links previously supplied.

All details as published, and easily read.



Airbus Delays A380 Deliveries

Thu, 02 Jun '05
Carriers Are Screaming

The Airbus A380 is going to be late... about six months late. That's the word from the factory and it sent some of the airlines which have already ordered the behemoth passenger jet into angry fits. Some of them want compensation for the delay.

Airbus said it needs more time to complete modifications on the aircraft's original design.

"The A380 delay is serious," said Richard Aboulafia, vice president of the Teal Group, an aerospace consulting firm in Fairfax, VA. He told the New York Times, "It might suggest a problem with the weight of the plane, and therefore with the economics. Lateness itself isn't a problem; performance is."

Airbus wasn't specific about the modifications needed on the A380, but did say the aircraft is aerodynamically sound. "There has hardly been any new airliner in history that was delivered on the date that was set when it was launched," said spokeswoman Barbara Kracht, also quoted by the Times.

Already, some carriers are lining up for rebates because of the delays. "This is disappointing, given that we have met all of Airbus' deadlines for Qantas specifications," said the Australian airline's CEO, Geoff Dixon in an interview with the Times. His airline would, he promised, seek "compensation from Airbus in line with the terms of its contract."

Singapore Airlines, slated to be the first carrier to take delivery on the super jumbo, had expected its A380 in the second quarter of next year. Now, it appears, that delivery won't be made until the fourth quarter of 2006.

One issue: Airbus is configuring the A380 differently for different customers. That, said Aboulafia, is probably also a factor in the delay.
FMI: www.airbus.com

http://www.aero-news.net/news/commai...c48e&Dynamic=1

Thanks Mr @ Spotty, I also had read that post dated June 1st.
The date of the information advising that A380 was reported to not be attending Paris was June 9th some 8 days later.

Quote from rubik101:
“HectorusRex seems another of those posters who just want to slag off Airbus for the sake of being a slagger! Does he have shares in Boeing? If so, sell them now is my advice. Boeing will dissappear down the pan in years to come if they carry on the way they are at the moment. And btw, where are these customers who are 'screaming' for compensation? Evidence please Hector”.

EADS shake-up could be delayed beyond air show
http://investing.reuters.co.uk/Stock...-Jun-2005+RTRS
“EADS conceded on Wednesday that Airbus may lose first place in the number of annual orders to Boeing (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research) this year as the U.S. jetmaker rebounds with its popular future 787 Dreamliner.”


Finally a question for the Moderator as to why this topic was moved from Rumours and News and placed here with no advice that it had been moved?

[catchup]

Boeing Has Airbus on the Ropes

By Dinah Deckstein

After years of losing market share to its European rival, Boeing is now quickly making up ground. Its new Dreamliner looks to be a hit and Airbus seems to prefer squabbling to strategizing. Delays in manufacturing their super-jumbo A380 could turn the prestige project into the company's biggest-ever flop.

Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner is giving Airbus super-jumbo-sized ulcers.

Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner is giving Airbus super-jumbo-sized ulcers.
June 14, 2005 could have been a big day for Gustav Humbert, 55. The affable native of the German state of Lower Saxony had intended to make his first public appearance as the new CEO of Airbus at the upcoming Paris Air Show, the Aerosalon, at Le Bourget Airport near Paris. Moreover, he had also planned to announce major new orders worth billions of euros as well as his visions for the company's future.

Surrounded by supporters and aviation buffs from all over the globe, Airbus's top executive would most likely have then strolled over to the nearby Airbus visitor pavilion along the perimeter of the airfield to celebrate the next highlight of the day with a toast of champagne: the unveiling of Airbus's new super-jumbo, the A380.

But instead of a day filled with glory and triumph, however, Humbert's day next Tuesday is now likely to resemble a quick sprint through the gauntlet. Despite positive signals in May, Humbert still hasn't been named the first German ever to head Europe's largest aircraft manufacturer, and ongoing squabbles between German and French executives make it unclear when and if the announcement will eventually be made. And instead of chatting excitedly about the technical features of his company's various aircraft models with assembled industry experts, he'll likely be faced with a barrage of tough questions:

How is it possible that his appointment has turned into an embarrassing stalemate that's lasted for weeks?

How will the subsidy dispute with the US government -- which the two sides formally took before the World Trade Organization early last week -- affect Airbus's planned A350 long-distance jet and new projects in the future?

And whose fault is it that the planned delivery of the A380 mega-transporter has been delayed by months?

Humbert, who is considered level-headed and thoughtful by colleagues within the company, will probably respond evasively to these kinds of questions. Otherwise he would find himself in the uncomfortable position of assigning the blame to a man who was his boss for years and has been partly responsible for the problems Airbus is now facing: current Airbus CEO Noël Forgeard.

The Airbus A380 is the world's largest passenger plane. Delivery delays could eat into Airbus's coffers, however.

The Airbus A380 is the world's largest passenger plane. Delivery delays could eat into Airbus's coffers, however.
In the next few days Forgeard, a Frenchman, is expected to join former DaimlerChrysler executive Thomas Enders in taking the helm at Airbus's parent company, EADS. But even that isn't a slam dunk. The majority shareholders DaimlerChrysler, media conglomerate Lagardére and the French government haven't exactly seen eye-to-eye recently and a last-minute change of plan remains a possibility.

In other words, just as the intense power struggle between rivals Airbus and Boeing is coming to a dramatic head, the management of the European aviation group seems more concerned with internal rivalry than with international supremacy.

Both companies like to take advantage of the Paris Air Show, one of the most important in the industry, to show off their own strengths and do their best to disparage the competition. This time around, it already seems clear that the long-struggling Americans will have reason to celebrate again. Even worse for the Europeans, Boeing will be rubbing Europe's face in it on its rival's home turf in Old Europe -- and the Europeans have only themselves to blame for the fiasco they are likely to face.

Until recently, it seemed as though Airbus had clearly taken the lead over its competitor from faraway Seattle. While the Europeans had consistently been logging new sales successes for years and had even robbed the former market leader of its dominance in the civil aviation sector, the US giant spent those same years in an apparent state of paralysis. And in the past year and a half, a corruption scandal surrounding defense contracts and sex scandals at the executive level led to the firing of about half a dozen senior managers at Boeing, including CEO Phil Condit and his successor Harry Stonecipher, one of the Boeing Group's largest individual shareholders.

But Boeing's executives have recently made enormous gains -- and not just as a result of a jump in orders for their aircraft. They have also been able to take advantage of the internal quarrels that have preoccupied their main competitor for months. While Boeing is practically fighting off demand for its new 787, which consumes significantly less jet fuel than earlier models, Airbus's managers are seemingly ripping each other apart in internal power struggles and intrigues -- and increasingly neglecting their company's daily business. The internal trench warfare at Airbus reached a high point last Wednesday when, contrary to expectations, the company's sparring executives were unable to come to an agreement, even after a third round of talks, over the composition of the future management team at Airbus and its parent company, EADS.

Gustav Humbert is still waiting for internal squabbling to die down so he can be named as CEO of Airbus.

Gustav Humbert is still waiting for internal squabbling to die down so he can be named as CEO of Airbus.
In the wake of the failed EU referendum, the French, in an effort to bolster the position of fellow Frenchman Forgeard, surprisingly called for the insertion of an additional executive tier between the two companies. Under the French plan, Forgeard would also head the important helicopter division, Eurocopter, in the future, despite the fact that, under the strict German-French distribution of power within the group, this would actually be Enders's job. But the Germans -- once again -- used their veto, and in doing so also blocked the long-overdue appointment of their candidate of choice, Humbert.

The Americans, in turn, cleverly took advantage of the power vacuum among the Europeans to deal their main competitor yet another sensitive blow. To the dismay of Airbus and EADS executives, the US government decided last week to take its case to the court of arbitration at the World Trade Organization (WTO) in the dispute over illegal subsidies for new aircraft that has been smoldering for months. The European Commission, which had only recently been pushing for a compromise, countered by filing a complaint of its own. Boeing and the US government accuse the Europeans of supporting their aviation companies with extremely favorable loans for new jets, loans that don't even have to be repaid in the event of failure. In return, Airbus and the Commission charge the Americans with massively supporting Boeing through tax breaks and other incentives along with hidden subsidies from the US defense budget, subsidies that don't even have to be reported and that Boeing can collect without providing anything in return.

If the adversaries are unable to come to an agreement in the coming weeks or months, judges from third countries will initially be asked to deal with complex material that would make for a challenging read even for aviation experts. In the worst case, both sides could be ordered to repay billions in illegal subsidies. This in turn would make the development of new aircraft significantly more risky and expensive for both companies.

Industry insiders were initially puzzled as to why Boeing would even make such a risky move.

A380 delays could turn the prestige project into Airbus's biggest-ever disaster.>>





© DER SPIEGEL 23/2005

[HectorusRex]

Airbus hits turbulence

June 8th, 2005

http://www.americanthinker.com/artic...rticle_id=4561

Europe, as a potential superpower rival to America, is reeling in the wake of voter rejection of its constitution in France and Holland. Speculation abounds that Italy and even Germany may abandon the euro as currency.
Now Airbus, the flagship for Europe’s dirigiste model of technological and industrial development, is on the ropes following three decades of ascent to leadership in the jet airliner market. After absorbing tens of billions of dollars in subsidies, and driving Boeing into the unaccustomed status of second-place, stress fractures are appearing in the cobbled-together multi-national, multi-cultural organization still officially celebrated as a source of strength for the company.
If Airbus flops spectacularly, as has suddenly become thinkable, the entire EU project could end up with its thrust reversers fully deployed. The ability to take on the commanidng heights of American technological leadership has served as a crucial source of legitimacy for the Eurocrats. Failure could bid au revoir to the dream of the United States of Europe.
Along with oil exploration, manufacturing civil airliners is an example of high stakes gambling undertaken by massive, technologically sophisticated business organizations, with governments anxiously looking over their shoulders as the bets are laid on the table. In a spectacle that dwarfs the most star-studded celebrity poker match, Europe’s champion Airbus is staring across the table at America’s champion Boeing, with the stakes amounting to tens of thousands of high-paying jobs, hundreds of billions of dollars in exports, and prestige on display to the global elites at every major airport in the world.
After years of clawing its way to the top with the help of subsidies from European taxpayers, Airbus seemed to be grabbing a permanent lead, humbling Boeing and the United States, and giving the mandarins of Europe bragging rights to justify their claims of superiority over the cruel and inefficient market-based economies of les Anglo-Saxons.
But right now the bragging is a bit subdued at Airbus. The Europeans threw roughly $8 billion taxpayer dollars at Airbus in the form of loans which need not be repaid in the event of market failure, to enable development of the A380 superjumbo airliner. Aside from the pleasure of launching the world’s largest civil aircraft, the Europeans must have spent many a two hour expense account lunch happily contemplating Boeing’s loss of its highly profitable market for the 747, which has ruled the skies for three and a half decades.
Boeing, which must put at risk its shareholders’ money to develop new products, looked closely at the market’s needs, and decided to bet on a smaller plane, now called the 787 Dreamliner, which would be a state-of-the-art fuel-efficient plane holding roughly one third as many passengers as the A 380, and therefore useful on so-called point-to-point routes (Charlotte to Paris) which greatly outnumber hub-to-hub routes (New York to London), and are increasingly preferred by passengers anxious to avoid the pain of changing planes.
So far, Boeing is having greater success in the marketplace. So much so that Airbus is now imploring its governmental sugar daddies for yet more billions to develop an all-new competitor for the Dreamliner. This is particularly humiliating, since Airbus is publicly abandoning its previous plan to merely update the comparably-sized A-330, a halfway new aircraft that very, very few airlines were interested in buying, as it turned out.
But mere failure in the marketplace is only the start of Airbus’s troubles at the very moment it was planning as its great triumph. Last week, Airbus publicly humiliated itself by announcing that the actual deliveries of the A380 to customers would be delayed by three to six months. Early customers had been warned in private over the last couple of months, but the public announcement took place just two weeks before the Paris Air Show, the largest event in aerospace sales, which opens on June 12th.
Launch customer Singapore Airlines had planned to begin A380 service next April, so a possible six month delay will be very inconvenient and costly, to say the least.
Putting a new airliner in service is quite a bit more complicated than, say, buying a new car. Crews must be trained, spare parts purchased and inventoried, maintenance procedures established and training programs and manuals delivered to maintenance facilities all over the world, and marketing programs put into place. The aircraft being replaced are not simply parked on the tarmac, they are sold or leased out, and usually not available for last minute substitution for the missing new aircraft. Singapore Airlines in particular has long made a practice of buying the newest equipment and retiring (i.e., selling to less prosperous carriers) its slightly-used planes before any wear and tear builds up.
In other words, Singapore Airlines and the other early customers for the A380 like Emirates and Qantas must now scramble to line up alternative airlift capacity for their passengers. This is expensive and ties-up personnel, not a happy outcome. Airbus will reportedly have to pay “tens of millions of dollars” in contractually-specified penalties to customers affected by the delays, but according to reports,
[Singapore Airlines CEO] Chew said the A380 delay is of such magnitude that it has gone beyond standard contract penalties. "Our lawyers are talking with their lawyers," he said of Airbus.
But mere money cannot fully compensate for the disruption, nor can it remove the stain on the reputation of the A380.
Compounding the error, Airbus actually seemed to blame its customers for the delay, saying that the interior customization demanded by them turned out to be a problem:
Airbus didn’t specify the delays’ causes, but [Airbus spokeswoman Mary Anne] Greczyn said the complexity of customizing aircraft and the tardiness of suppliers’ delivery have an impact on manufacturing.
Another Airbus spokesman reinforced this point:
Leahy said in an interview that he was embarrassed about the delays, but he attributed it, in part, to the new cabin configurations on the A380 sought by customers.
"They are dramatically changing the flying experience," he said. "When every launch customer dramatically changes the interior, and each is different than the other, that's a lot more engineering that is required."
Blaming the customer is never a wise move, and nearly always an indicator of an organizational pathology at work. A380 customers are already reacting with prickliness. Singapore Airlines’ Chew stated
"It is true, this being the first new aircraft design in more than a decade, we are trying to do something dramatic in the way of passenger and comfort," he said. "Perhaps that has caused Airbus to underestimate the amount of adaptation and engineering detail. But to attribute it all to customer specifications is, I would suggest, less than the full picture.
Qantas’s CEO Geoff Dixon made it clear that his airline has held up its end of the bargain, even as Airbus has not:
“This is disappointing, given that we have met all of Airbus’ deadlines for Qantas specifications.”
Subsequent reports indicate that blaming the other guy is becoming an art form at Airbus. According to Reuters last Friday:
Delay in the Airbus A380 double-decker is not the fault of its Hamburg plant, company officials said on Friday, rejecting media reports sourced to Airbus insiders who blamed the German arm of the France-based plane maker.
"It's not the case," said Airbus Germany spokesman Arndt Hellmann. He added that time delays on large aircraft projects were common and that they were always subject to changes. "It's a huge project."
Airbus has always been an odd entity, cobbled together from formerly-autonomous aerospace manufacturers in France, Germany, and Spain, with additional participation by British Aerospace. The original Airbus model, the A300, launched in 1972, was the product of Sud Aviation, manufacturer of the Caravelle twin-engine airliner of the 1960s. France got Germany to participate, and Spain later joined the consortium. The British declined to join in when the first Airbus elected to use General Electric [GE has extensive business ties to French engine manufacturer SNECMA] engines, not Rolls-Royce, but later participated anyway. The corporate parent of Airbus is one-fifth owned by British Aerospace. Airbus headquarters remain in Toulouse, France, Sud’s former home base. It may be a European company, but to many it looks quite French.
Despite the dreams of Brussels bureaucrats, national antagonisms remain, and have been compounded by the pressure attendant upon looming humiliations. Reuters notes:
Franco-German friction is at the heart of a management feud that has gripped parent firm EADS and stalled appointments of a new Airbus chief executive, new EADS co-CEOs and a boss for its defence business. [emphasis added]
Now that EU’s proposed constitution has crashed to earth in flames, these nationalist tensions within Airbus are not going to calm down anytime soon. France and Germany have a long history of conflict, and aviation played a particularly important role in the Twentieth Century iterations of their rivalry.
Despite the constant back-and-forth information flow customary between a manufacturer and its airline customers, nobody seems to know exactly (in public, at least) what the problems are which have delayed the A380 deliveries. Airbus failed to give adequate notice to its launch customers about the delay, suggesting that there may have been technological surprises at its root.
"These things happen," he [Qantas CEO Dixon] added, "but up to now, we have not had a lot of communications about it, and that concerns us. While we understand that some of these things are unavoidable, we would have appreciated earlier and more detailed information."
Secretiveness naturally arouses fears of an unpleasant nature. Because the new airplane is both massive and extensively employs state-of-the-art composites in its structure, the nightmare scenario would involve threats to its structural integrity. The smaller Boeing Dreamliner also employs composites, but its smaller size means that stresses due to sheer mass will be less of an engineering obstacle. The A380 is so large and heavy that even runways at major airports have to be strengthened to support its unprecedented stresses. The same mass factor multiples the challenge designers face in ensuring that the fuselage and wings, held together with high tech glue, stay attached to each other through turbulent weather, hard landings, and temperature extremes. The possibility of structural failure is so dire that no one wants to even contemplate it.
Yet airliner manufacturers have, in the past, made small errors in design and manufacturing which have had catastrophic results. The very first jet airliner, the British DeHavilland Comet I, disintegrated in mid-air due to unforeseen metal fatigue stress cracks in the fuselage at the corners of its square windows. The wings of the Lockheed Electra of the 1960s repeatedly fall off in flight due to engine mounting and wing reinforcement problems. Design revisions and updated models were produced, but neither airplane ever was a commercial success, and the names DeHavilland and Lockheed never again recovered their commercial aviation luster.
Airbus needs to get the A380 right. It is under deadline, alienating customers, facing financial penalties, and now going cup-in-hand to several European governments, begging for yet more billions to design an all-new aircraft to counter the Dreamliner. The major European governments have bet a lot on Airbus. Just as they bet a lot on the EU constitution.
High stakes gambling can get very interesting, indeed.

[HectorusRex]

Something more for the strangely quiet Rubic to ponder.
This from a very well known European source


Boeing Has Airbus on the Ropes (2)

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/inte...9407-2,00.html


But the answer could lie in a major Pentagon contract for some 500 tanker aircraft, for which the two companies are competing. The Americans were at first excluded from the bidding process, because a high-ranking government official, hoping to later land a lucrative job at Boeing, had deliberately given the company preferential treatment during earlier public bidding procedures.

In May the United States House of Representatives, responding to pressure from beleaguered Boeing executives, surprisingly decided to give the offending company another chance and, without further ado, enacted legislation to exclude subsidized foreign companies from the bidding process. In the wake of the WTO suit, the Europeans' chances of selling their newly developed A400 M military jet to the US government are rapidly approaching zero.

The Airbus executive and their CEO-designate Humbert would be better able to overcome this sharp setback if business were booming elsewhere. But at present, this is far from the case.

Whereas Boeing has raked in 266 orders and purchase commitments for its new 787 -- to be constructed entirely of light, synthetic materials -- the European have thus far managed to come up with only ten orders for their competing model, the A350. Now the Airbus executives are hoping, once again, for major orders from wealthy sheiks. Middle Eastern carriers like Qatar and Emirates supposedly plan to place orders for several dozen A350s in Paris.

But Airbus management faces even bigger worries with its new flagship, the A380 superjet. Last week the company was forced to confirm, for the first time, that delivery of the mega-transporter to initial customers like Singapore Airlines and Qantas will likely be delayed by up to six months. As a result, Airbus may be liable for penalty payments in the tens of millions of euros.
The delay is attributable to defects in individual components, such as the wings, the lateral tail unit and the tail sections, which are supplied by plants in the consortium's member countries, Germany, Spain and Great Britain, and that will require costly refitting at the final assembly site in Toulouse, France. The Airbus plant in the Hamburg suburb of Finkenwerder, for example, supplies the tail units for the A380, complete with all supply and electronics systems, before the aircraft is assembled in France and, in a later phase, outfitted with seats, galleys and toilets, also provided by the Hamburg plant.

Some components, already shipped to Toulouse, arrived either completely without or with deficient technical equipment. As a result, managers at the French assembly plant had to stop production, install the missing cables and systems themselves, and then conduct thorough inspections. Similar problems have also been accumulating among other internal suppliers. The result is a several week delay for subsequent construction phases and, ultimately, a long wait before the next test flights can be made.

Should customers have to wait too long for final delivery -- a scenario insiders see as likely -- then the prestigious project could quickly turn into the biggest flop in Airbus history. Because development costs are already €1.5 billion over budget, the Europeans will likely be forced to substantially raise their prices for the 250 jets originally planned if they hope to turn a profit. And the company only has 154 orders on its books so far. As long as it remains unclear how quickly the Europeans will be able to overcome their timeline problems, additional orders are not likely to flood in.

The confident Airbus CEO Forgeard -- exceedingly effective at shining the spotlight on himself and his pet project in recent years but remiss in making important strategic and business decisions -- is now likely to pay a steep price for his inattentiveness. In recent years, the ambitious Frenchman instructed his engineers to focus their efforts on the company's two showcase models, the A380 and the A400 M. As a result, Airbus now lacks successors for aging models like its short-range and mid-range jets, the A300, A310 and A320. Even the new Airbus A350 is unlikely to be a major seller. Because the Europeans lacked the available personnel for a complete redevelopment and apparently wanted to save money, they simply freshened up their existing model, the A330, to the annoyance of many customers. Moreover, even the new A350 won't come onto the market until two years after the 787's debut.
Boeing, for its part, is already in the process of transferring the innovative features of its super-light jet to the 737. The next generation of the ever-popular model is scheduled to be flying by the end of the decade. Unless Airbus manages to likewise spruce up its aging fleet, arch-rival Boeing could once again pull ahead in the coming years and deprive the Europeans of some of their most loyal customers.

For these reasons, a position that Humbert may until recently have perceived as the ultimate dream job could soon turn into a nightmare for Airbus's new chief executive. The man who is in fact responsible for many of the company's problems, current CEO Forgeard, will by then have moved up a level -- into senior management at parent company EADS.

From there, Forgeard will be supervising his former and new subordinate, Humbert, as stipulated under the group's by-laws.

But it could also take a while longer before that happens. Late last week, the French made it known that they will definitely demand more power for Forgeard in his new position.

They also indicated that the newly erupted personnel dispute with the Germans could continue -- until well into the Paris Air Show.

Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan

[jetupset]

Gotta say, any journalist that writes this:

"Europeans' chances of selling their newly developed A400 M military jet to the US government are rapidly approaching zero."

has to be pretty badly informed, to say the least.

I didn't actually know Airbus was trying to sell that aircraft stateside. I thought they were aiming more at smaller countries replacing older C130's (which are not jets either, just incase the jounalist/writer of the previous article reads this).

[HectorusRex]

Aero News Net got it wrong!

New Airbus super-jumbo makes first landing in Paris
(AFP)

12 June 2005


PARIS - The new super-jumbo Airbus A380, the world’s largest airliner, flew into Paris on Sunday for its public debut at the world’s biggest air show, the new weapon in its European makers’ battle with US rival Boeing.

The giant double-decker craft, which holds 555 to 840 passengers, arrived under sunny skies, nose to the wind, setting its majestic frame down like a star at Le Bourget airport, where the 46th Paris Air Show starts Monday.

It will be the clash of the aerospace titans at this site just north of the French capital, after a recent turn in fortunes that left Boeing poised to retake the lead in passenger airplane orders it lost five years ago.

The Airbus A380, which made a high-profile maiden flight on April 27, flew in “without a hitch” from the southwestern French city of Toulouse where the craft are assembled, said French pilot Jacques Rosay.

He is one of its two test pilots along with German Wolfgang Absmeier, who actually set the craft down at Le Bourget.

They were to take the craft up on a “rehearsal” later Sunday before its official demonstration Monday when President Jacques Chirac inaugurates this week-long show, a bazaar of 2,000 exhibitors from 41 countries for professionals and, for the last three days, the public.

Several demonstration flights are planned at Le Bourget, and Rosay, who will man the controls during the week, said it was ”possible” the super-jumbo would be taken up every day.

“The aim, in coming here, is to show off this magnificent airplane to the whole world,” he said after they flew in to wild applause by a few dozen Airbus employees and a 20-member gendarme ”escort” waiting for the plane.

Le Bourget officials said they specially extended a runway to accommodate the A380, which an Airbus spokesman said will hit its 100th hour flying time at Le Bourget and is due to enter commercial service in 2006.

Global commercial aviation has seen its recession fade for the most part, except for some US airlines, since the last Paris Air Show in 2003, when the sector was still reeling from the September 11 terror attacks in the United States and the SARS epidemic in Asia.

As elsewhere in the global economy, Asia is powering demand for new commercial planes, seen by Boeing as more than doubling the world’s commercial fleet by 2024.

And this year the Americans are back in force at the event, after military top brass snubbed the 2003 show over France’s opposition to the US-led war in Iraq.

Though the A380 is tipped as star of the Paris Show, a recent announcement by Airbus that production problems would force a six-month delay in deliveries cast a a shadow on its shine. Its first commercial flight, with Singapore Airlines, is now set for late 2006.

When questioned Sunday, pilot Rosay said the test-flight program was in no way at fault. It “has gone as planned. This has nothing to do with that,” he said. The flight to Le Bourget was the Airbus A380’s 22nd test flight.

The delay could entail financial penalties for Airbus, owned 80 percent by the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company and 20 percent by BAE Systems of Britain.

Boeing’s retort in the escalating war of superlatives landed Friday at the Le Bourget airport, completing its first intercontinental flight: the 777-200LR Worldliner.

The world’s longest-range commercial airplane -- at 9,420 nautical miles (17,445 kilometers) -- can connect almost any two cities in the world non-stop.

On Monday, the rivals’ fight lands at the World Trade Organisation for a hearing on their competing lawsuits over public aid.

However, pre-show buzz around the aero rivals concerned two long-haul, medium-capacity airliners yet to be built.

Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, due to enter service in 2008, has already won 266 orders and options. Airbus’s defensive response, the A350, has attracted only 10 orders and the announcement of its launch date, originally expected at the show, was pushed back last week to September.

Gulf-based airlines could spring surprise orders again as they did at the last Paris show. Qatar Airways is expected to disclose a lucrative order for some 60 new planes and was in advanced negotiations with Airbus and Boeing on the 787 or the A350, an aviation industry source said.

The Doha-based airline surprised the last biennial show with an order for 32 Airbus aircraft.

Some 60 aircraft were expected to present aerial demonstrations.

However, organisers have grounded drones, or unmanned aircraft, due to security concerns.