November 17, 2006
BULLY BOEING (via David Hill)
US files new complaint over Airbus aid (The Telegraph, 11/16/2006, David Litterick)
Posted by Orrin Judd at November 17, 2006 5:26 AM
The US government is set to reopen the legal battle over state aid for aircraft makers with a new complaint to the World Trade Organisation over the help European states provide to Airbus.The complaint seems a deliberate attempt to deal Airbus a new blow as the company attempts to recover from problems relating to its A380 superjumbo.
A corollary of the Chicago Way* is that if you can't kick someone when he is down, when can you kick him.
* "You wanna know how you do it? Here's how, they pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way..."
Airbus always has been a government-supported operation no matter how much money they lose. The Airbus A-380 thus far has been a monumental failure losing billions of Euro dollars with planned first delivery least 15 months away. Their delays has caused FedEx to cancel it’s freighter order and go to Boeing for fifteen 777 on firm order with options for 15 more. The deathblow for the A380 could be dealt by the cancellation of Emirates 43 orders, a distinct possibility since they were originally due their first aircraft this month. The A-380 a jet that is rapidly becoming the answer to a question no ones wants to admit asking.
Airbus always counter argues that the U.S government supports Boeing by their military contracts. This has always been an interesting argument but the fact remains that Airbus never has to worry about going bankrupt, while U.S. companies like Boeing have had to bet the farm on a new product design like they did with the original 747.