Chris Jasper/PARIS
Ministers from the four Airbus nations have given the consortium's partner companies "until the end of the summer" to come up with "concrete" plans to transform the consortium into a single company. They have backed the request by making the closest link yet between a successful restructuring and research funding for the A3XX project.
Industry ministers from France, Germany, Spain and the UK met at the Paris air show. They reiterated that Airbus should be transformed into a single corporate entity (SCE) as soon as possible, stressing the need to make the operation more efficient before an anticipated return to competitiveness by US rival Boeing.
French transport minister Jean-Claude Gayssot, who hosted the meeting, says "determination was expressed very strongly" on the need "to move forward very quickly and set up the SCE for Airbus". The issue was discussed "in terms of the competitive challenge of the USA".
Gaysott says the meeting agreed to "launch concurrently a dual effort to build the corporate entity and launch the A3XX", confirming that the target for launching the 500-seat project remains the end of this year, with aircraft expected to enter service in 2005.
UK industry minister John Battle says that while A3XX research aid may not be wholly dependent on restructuring, when raising financial support for the project "SCE will be a vital factor so there can be a realistic assessment of the likely return on investment".
Battle adds that the transformation of Airbus is likely to be "a dynamic one, rather than a clear linear one", suggesting that a stalled move to reorganise the consortium according to a preordained schedule has now been jettisoned.
While the ministers' linkage of SCE and the A3XX puts pressure on the Airbus partners, any implicit threat seems to have been compromised by diverging approaches to research budgeting for next year.
While German minister Siegmar Mosdorf says Berlin will not be budgeting for A3XX R&D for 2000 in the absence of an SCE, Gaysott reveals that Paris has provisionally set aside Fr200 million ($31 million) in funding for the year.
The French minister also revealed that he has received a letter from the Italian Government, "expressing a desire" to play a part in Airbus consolidation, indicating that Rome remains keen to become involved in the project.
The four ministers are due to meet again at the Berlin air show next year.
Source: Flight International
