Kevin O'Toole/LONDON
EUROPE'S regional-aircraft manufacturers have given a broad welcome to the alliance between ATR and British Aerospace's Jetstream and Avro operations, but all acknowledge that the real battle for leadership will come when the issue of new-aircraft development arises over the next couple of years.
BAe and the Franco-Italian ATR consortium have gone out of their way to stress that the door is still open for involvement of other European, and possibly Asian, manufacturers, with the long-term goal of creating a single regional-aircraft consortium to sit beneath Airbus Industrie.
"I can't envisage having more than one regional-aircraft operation," says Mike Turner, chairman of BAe Commercial Aerospace. "We have made the big first step, but I think there is still all to play for as we take the next step."
ATR president Henri-Paul Puel echoes the call for a single European consortium combining all of the region's manufacturers. Both partners emphasise that talks with Saab and Fokker will resume once the first phase of their own alliance is signed and sealed.
Apart from BAe's closure of the Jetstream 61 line, the initial phase of the co-operation will have little impact on manufacturing, instead covering the pooling of sales, marketing and customer-support services. "
The marketing operation will be brought together into a new company based in Toulouse, France. This new unit, which has still to be named, is to be owned in equal shares by BAe and the two ATR partners, Alenia and Aerospatiale.
The alliance partners will not discuss the more fundamental issues of final assembly and aircraft development until the first phase is firmly in place over the next two years. Turner says that, during 1996, a study is planned of the 70- to 80-seat turboprop market as well as a separate study on the potential for a new launch within the regional-jet sector. "I see a 90-plus-seater and a 120-seater, but there's a lot of work to do on that yet," he says.
Turner's personal view is that the priority may be to launch a new regional jet in co-operation with Asian partners, to help support Airbus against Boeing's ambitions in the region.
The alliance hopes to bring in other manufacturers once the issue of new aircraft is on the table. CASA has already been promised talks on joining the venture if and when a new turboprop is discussed. The Spanish group has stopped work on its proposed CASA 3000 programme for a high-speed 70-seat turboprop, but says that it still has the promise of state cash for such a launch.
Turner concedes that other European groups may be more difficult to bring on board, given conflicts with existing product lines. Although Daimler-Benz Aerospace (DASA) has signaled that it is prepared to play a junior role on turboprops, it is still nursing ambitions, based around its Fokker subsidiary, to take the lead in the regional-jet market.
Fokker says that it will continue its discussions with ATR and BAe. The group is also pursuing its own talks with Asian partners.
Although DASA and Fokker officially welcomed the new alliance as "an important step forward", signs of tension have already surfaced. Wolfgang Piller, financial director designate at DASA, was quoted in the French press as warning that the deal could "pollute" relations with Aerospatiale.
The "bitter competition" which would result from two rival regional-jet consortia would also inflict damage within the Airbus consortium, he warns. DASA chairman-elect Manfred Bischoff and Aerospatiale chairman Louis Gallois have since attempted to play down any differences, however.
Saab Aircraft also gives a cautious welcome to the alliance. "I don't think we are excluded from making a future relationship with the new consortium," says President Hans Kruger. He refuses to commit Saab to any future negotiations, however.
"The future is still a very open playing field. It can be a united Europe consolidation making new aircraft or it could go in other directions. There is not a clear next step," he says.
Source: Flight International
