June 26, 2006
THE EADS OF MARCH:
Dogfight that could bring down Airbus (Oliver Morgan, June 25, 2006, The Observer)
When Jacques Chirac, Tony Blair, Gerhard Schroder and Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero came together in Toulouse 18 months ago, they were gathered in praise of one of Europe's most ambitious technological collaborations: the Airbus A380 superjumbo.Playing host, Chirac pointed to the 555-seat double-decker and waxed philosophical: here was a metaphor for a successful European industrial policy, propelling Airbus past Boeing as the world's leading aircraft maker, embodying European integration.
A year and a half later, things could not have turned out more differently. Far from establishing Airbus's dominance over its US rival Boeing, orders for the A380 have stalled at just over 150.
Against this came a bombshell that could wreck the company and even threaten the French government.
On 13 June, Airbus announced a €2bn (£1.37bn) profits warning. The reason: the A380. The problem: technical difficulties with its electrical systems. The result: Airbus's parent company, EADS, lost a quarter of its value in a day.
But this was not all. Attention focused on EADS co-chief executive, Noel Forgeard, who had made €1.5m for himself by selling EADS shares in March. Did he know something?
It was hardly a secret that the plane is a white elephant. Posted by Orrin Judd at June 26, 2006 3:32 PM
I laughed when they revealed the A380. The pomp that surrounded it's launch might have fooled the laymen and the press into thinking it was a wunderjet, but working at Boeing at the time, I recall exactly what one of their design engineers called it, "a 21st century Spruce Goose".
Far from worried about the A380, the folks I talked to at Boeing were almost relieved to see that Airbus had wasted years of R&D and billions of dollars developing a jet that one engineer told me couldn't land at any existing airport without their extensive and expensive renovation. They saw it as the answer to a problem that didn't exist, a solution in search of a problem that might never manifest itself.
Posted by: Robert Modean at June 26, 2006 5:35 PMWell, I think it's neat.
I never quite understood this latest problem. Something about wiring harnesses? What, like clips? I haven't seen an article go into detail.
Posted by: RC at June 27, 2006 7:30 AMI believe that Boeing looked into the market for that type of jumbo plane and decided there was not enough there to justify the cost of development. I would guess that they probably have an idea down for their version of such a plan if and when the market for this develops.
Posted by: Chris Durnell at June 27, 2006 11:39 AMOnce when my European colleagues were talking about the A380 with excitement I asked them to imagine two of these things arriving at Detroit simultaneously (a common occurrence)with 1,110 people trying to grab their luggage and clear customs and immigration. My point was that any advantage in the air would be lost and then some on the ground. It cast a pall over the entire conversation.
Posted by: jeff at June 27, 2006 1:12 PM