Fri, May 20, 2005
Merger Promises Business For Boeing 787 Rival
The company that would
be formed by merging US Airways and America West has a lot of
outside investors -- each one with its own hopes for a return on
investment. In the case of Airbus, the airplane manufacturer is
looking for nothing less than a launch partner.
Airbus paid $250 million of the $1.5 billion in outside funds to
help capitalize the newly merged company. In turn, the new company
has agreed to buy an unspecified number of A350s -- Airbus's answer
to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
Airbus hasn't made much progress in selling A350s in the US. One
European airline consultant told the Seattle Times that Airbus
"very urgently concerned to buy their way into the US market with
the A350."
Some analysts and industry insiders wonder however, isn't that
like... a bribe?
It's just one Airbus
tactic aimed at boosting A350 sales. Another is in pitching the
yet-to-be-built aircraft as "all new."
"Since December, we improved width, range, seat costs,
economics," Airbus sales chief John Leahy said Wednesday to the
aviation trade press in Toulouse, France. "We changed the aircraft
three or four times in the past 90 days. We achieved an eight-ton
weight reduction through the use of new technologies. This is an
all-new aircraft."
When Leahy heads to the Paris Air Show next month, he expects
the new improvements will lead to "triple digit" orders. That, of
course, could trigger a major trade war between the US and the
European Union.
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