Signs of spring for Airbus

Manufacturing News, Source : The Manufacturer US
Published : 20 Mar 2007 12:46

Flight is what it boils down to, and the Airbus A380 was welcomed in style by the US on the 19th, as two of the 21st century flagship jetliners touched down within minutes of each other in both New York and Los Angeles.

This is a welcome upper, after a troubling few weeks in which parent company EADS announce 10,000 job cuts, those threatened with cuts picketed in France, and the company reported net income had plunged by 94 percent to $124m, the company's first-ever operating loss. According to The Economist, EADS CEO Louis Gallois is warning of more poor results this year.

Still, the A380 took off and landed, one week after Boeing reported producing its first vertical fin for its jumbo 787 Dreamliner, its rival to teh A380. Boeing expects a test flight in August, and deliveries to begin in 2008.

The A380's flight crew at New York waved an American flag after landing, while Los Angeles International Airport rolled out the red carpet for a welcome led by the city's mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa.

According to calculations of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (which operates John F. Kennedy International Airport), the A380's first full year of service at the facility will generate some $82 million in economic activity, approximately $32 million in payroll and roughly 1,040 full-time jobs.

Elsewhere, European Union officials will argue to World Trade Organization officials that Boeing's resurgence is proof European subsidies for Airbus aren't damaging Boeing, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The US case against Airbus, which it first filed in 2004, claims Boeing has sold fewer airplanes because of some $20 billion in subsidies EU governments have given Airbus since 1992. But, Boeing orders have surged past Airbus, likely making the suit hard to defend.

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