WHY NOT JUST GIVE THEM AWAY?:

Airbus Faces Wide Gap in A350 Orders (DANIEL MICHAELS and J. LYNN LUNSFORD, 6/14/07, WAll Street Journal)

With the Paris Air Show less than a week away, Airbus has so far been unable to lure crucial customers to its proposed A350 jetliner despite making sweeping changes to the plane a year ago, giving rival Boeing Co. a major opportunity to cement its market dominance for the next decade.

Airbus had hoped to shore up its credibility with customers before the industry's most closely watched trade show of the year. Five years behind Boeing in developing a new midsize long-haul jetliner, Airbus has booked only 13 firm orders for the A350, compared with nearly 600 for Boeing's 787 Dreamliner.

The European plane maker must move quickly. Customers are racing to secure delivery spots in the Dreamliner order book, making it difficult for Airbus to catch up. In recent weeks, Airbus has offered steep discounts and other incentives for A350, said one airline and others familiar with the matter.

After all, it's a welfare program, not a company.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 14, 2007 8:35 AM