Chris Jasper/LONDON
The transformation of Europe's four-nation Airbus consortium into a single corporate entity (SCE) could be delayed until mid-2000 or beyond, senior sources at British Aerospace (BAe) have revealed.
BAe chairman Sir Richard Evans openly admits the shift to SCE status is unlikely this year, while other senior managers at the company, which holds a 20% stake in Airbus, rule out any change until at least the second quarter of 2000.
Airbus Industrie chairman Noel Forgeard revealed last November that earlier delays meant the SCE would not be complete until late this year, but even that target is now unrealistic, say BAe sources.
The new delay in the Airbus timetable is just the latest in a series of setbacks to hit European aerospace integration plans. BAe's announced merger with GEC's Marconi Electronic Systems subsidiary rather than with Germany's DaimlerChrysler Aerospace (Dasa) means that prospects for the early establishment of a single European Aerospace and Defence Company (EADC) are receding fast.
Integration on both the civil and defence fronts has effectively ground to a halt, as evidenced by Evans' announcement of the latest delay to SCE. "I think 1999 is going to be extremely hard," he says, "but we will seek the sort of progress that will get us there. And I never believed that SCE was some sort of big bang affair."
A senior source at BAe Airbus says: "For SCE, we're now looking at Spring 2000, and that will be pushing it," he says. "Realistically, it will be hard to do it in 12 or 14 months, it could be longer."
Once established as an SCE, Airbus should be able to achieve major cost-savings, which will make it more price competitive.
The earlier delay was caused largely by the failure of France to supply full 1997 accounts for Aerospatiale, which has a 37.5% stake in Airbus. All Airbus partners must supply valuations prior to the move to SCE status, and the delay means valuations will now have to be based on 1998 accounts.
But while Airbus will become an SCE, there seems little likelihood of an EADC being formed in the short to medium term. Dasa already appears to have ruled out any French tie-up, saying any move in that direction "will have as a pre-condition the complete retiring of state ownership".
Source: Flight International
