AEROSPATIALE president Louis Gallois has hit out at the US Federal Aviation Administration for its "unique" treatment of ATR following the crash of an American Eagle ATR 72 in Chicago in October 1994. Aerospatiale owns ATR jointly with Italian company Alenia.
"It took 32 days for the FAA to declare the aircraft safe," he says. "We have a lot of difficulty understanding why it took so long." He also demands that the tests which cleared the ATR 72 for operation in icing conditions "...should be applied across the board to other turboprops".
Gallois describes Aerospatiale's 1994 performance as "mediocre". Turnover was down by around 4%, at Fr48.2 billion ($9 billion), but cost-cutting helped to reduce losses by almost Fr1 billion, to less than Fr500 million. Overall debt was also cut, from Fr13.5 billion to less than Fr9 billion (including a Fr2 billion provision from the French Government).
This year, says Gallois, will be the first in which Aerospatiale will see the real benefits of its restructuring programme now in place. The company also expects to conclude negotiations on missiles and satellite alliances with Daimler Benz Aerospace, "probably by the end of March".
Source: Flight International
