Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON, DC
DAIMLER-BENZ Aerospace (DASA) hopes to complete the sale of of its Dornier Lufthahrt regional-aircraft manufacturing unit to US manufacturer Fairchild Aircraft before the end of the month, according to Manfred Bischoff, DASA's president and chief executive.
Speaking in Washington on 30 April, Bischoff said that, although a technical success, the Dornier 328 programme has been a financial disaster. "We are in intense discussions with Fairchild Aircraft, which wants to acquire our Dornier business. Fairchild is now in due diligence, looking at the company. We hope to finalise something in the month of May," he continues.
"We have other bidders, but, in every process, you come to a point where you choose one bidder to continue discussions in detail. It is not often that you do due diligence with more than one company at the same time. We thought the most interested party for us, as a partner, was Fairchild," Bischoff adds.
The Dornier family maintains a stake in the turboprop manufacturer and has a say in whether DASA maintains a minority stake in Dornier Luftfahrt. "We have to consider the minority rights of the Dornier family. If they agree to a complete sale, we will sell 100%," says Bischoff. Dornier recorded a loss of around DM499 million ($337.1 million) in 1995.
DASA acquired Dornier in the late 1980s, in what former Daimler-Benz finance director Gerhard Liener described as the "...most mistaken contract we ever completed".
Bischoff concedes that Dornier and DASA has not been a good match. He says that DASA learned "the hard way" that a large aerospace company should not build turboprops. "Maybe Fairchild can do it successfully," he adds.
The German company has also dumped its share in Fokker, leading to the Dutch manufacturer's bankruptcy.
"Europe should concentrate on Airbus activities and extend the product line down to a 100-seat aircraft," Bischoff says. Turboprop manufacturing is best performed in the Third World or by specialist firms, he says. "We have no interest in being part of that," he adds.
San Antonio, Texas-based Fairchild had previously unsuccessfully attempted to acquire Czech turboprop maker Let in a bid to bolster the company's activities, which centre on the 19-seat Metro 23.
Speaking about Airbus Industrie - in which DASA is a major shareholder - Bischoff says that he has no backing for his concept of developing both 450-seat and 550-seat aircraft.
Airbus will decide before the end of the year on the size of the proposed A3XX. To be determined is whether Airbus should expand its product line to include a 450-seat or a 550-seat model.
He says that "the traumatic decision" facing Airbus is whether to continue as "a niche producer of 130- to 350-seat aircraft or become a full-line producer of 100- to 550- seat aircraft".
Bischoff: hopes to finalise in May
Source: Flight International
