French aerospace industry association GIFAS is touting the country's industry to potential Japanese partners as a gateway to Europe, hinting at future supersonic transport co-operation even as Boeing firms up its 7E7 production deals with Japanese industry.
GIFAS president and EADS co-chief executive Phillippe Camus told members of the Society of Japanese Aerospace Companies that France was "a loyal and important partner for Japanese industry" at a meeting in Tokyo last week. The initiative is seen as being an attempt to break Boeing's near-exclusive access to Japanese research and development funding and industry partnerships. Airbus's market share in Japan could fall to just 10% as All Nippon Airways replaces its A320s and A321s with Boeing 737-700s, while Japan's defence collaboration is almost exclusively with the USA.
Camus, however, is focusing on future areas of technological collaboration such as a Concorde successor. The Japanese ministry for the economy, trade and industry has funded studies of supersonic powerplants and of a 300-passenger Mach 2 transport with a 10,000km (5,400nm) range, but funding for the research is expiring, with the 7E7 and regional jets taking priority.
There are some sectors from which GIFAScan take heart. Euro-copter has won 75% of the civil helicopter market over the last three years and Arianespace has launched 20 of Japan's 28 satellites. Fifteen Japanese companies have invested $2.5 billion in the development of the Airbus A380, and with around 100 Japanese Boeing 747s needing eventual replacement, Airbus's position is likely to improve.
Source: Flight International
