Gilbert Sedbon/PARIS
SNECMA CHAIRMAN Bernard Dufour has left the group after a series of public run-ins with the French Government, including disagreement over plans to privatise the engine maker, and a deterioration in Snecma's valuable relationship with General Electric.
Since taking the helm at Snecma in October 1994, Dufour's aggressive drive to strengthen the engine company's strategic position appears largely to have backfired. The vital link with GE suffered a serious blow in April , when Airbus Industrie signed an exclusivity agreement with the US engine maker over studies of a powerplant for the stretched A340-600.
Despite later partially patching up with GE by agreeing on joint development of the 445kN (100,000lb)-thrust GE90-100B turbofan, Dufour further muddied the waters by signing a memorandum of understanding with Pratt & Whitney Canada to study the 53-71kN SPW14 regional-jet engine. The move brings Snecma into conflict with GE over the CF34-8C growth engine for the Bombardier Canadair CRJ-X, which may well be launched by the end of the year.
Reports in France say that GE chairman Jack Welch urged Snecma's state trustees, the French defence and transport ministries, to persuade Dufour to renounce the P&WC pact. Although GE declines to comment, the US engine maker is thought to be offering Snecma, as an incentive, a greater role in its proposed joint engine with P&W to power the Boeing 747-500X/600X.
Dufour's departure comes only days after he denounced Government plans for privatisation. He revealed on 23 April the existence of a Government letter, informing him that "-a study aiming at the privatisation of Snecma" was scheduled to be undertaken in the coming months.
The finance ministry confirms that the letter exists, but says that it has yet to choose an external advisor to carry out the long-term-strategy study. Dufour says that the state will have to pay Fr6 billion ($1.2 billion) to recapitalise Snecma by the end of 1998, rising to Fr10 billion in the event of privatisation.
Jean-Paul Bechat, chairman and chief executive of state-run armaments company SNPE is widely tipped to be Dufour's successor. Bechat was formerly vice-president of Snecma and headed Messier-Bugatti.
Source: Flight International
