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Home | Update | Latest Issue | Gallery | FR Profile | Datafiles | FR 12/97 AIRBUS NEEDS STRONG BACKING FOR THE NEXT CHALLENGES by Norbert Burgner Congratulations, Airbus Industrie! On 28 October, the four-national consortium celebrated the 25th anniversary of getting its first airliner, the twin-engine wide-body A300B1, airborne. What followed in the years after, was undoubtedly an impressive example of a successfully accomplished European vision. Today, Airbus Industrie, with a market share of 30 percent, has clearly become the number two in the international aircraft market. In the segment of 124 to 350-seat airliners, the consortium has meanwhile become even to Boeing. Nevertheless, if the individual nations with their plants in France, Great Britain, Spain, and Germany want to celebrate the 50th anniversary with a similar successful looking back, something must be done today. The USA, with their gigantic fusionings of the recent years, have generated a tremendous competitive potential. Securing the market dominating position of the US industry has the highest priority, by order of the US government, and is being pushed with all means - starting from nearly inexhaustible government subsidies over tax advantages for export-deals to threatening reviewing nations with deterioration of bi - or multilateral relationships, as experienced within the Boeing/McDonnell Douglas merger evaluation of the european competition commission or, in former, the german exchangerate subvention for Airbus. In Europe, the necessary restructuring of the aerospace industry is stuck. This is mainly the responsibility of the new socialist government in France. Lionel Jospin must decide between his election promises concerning government secured work places and a long-term profitability coming of privatization. From the German and British point of view (the opinion of the Spanish Airbus partner Casa (4,2 percent) will comply with the French position when in doubt), the answer is clear: A restructured European aerospace industry is only possible in the shape of a private enterprise. On the other side, and all agree to that, there is no substitute for governmental technology support and orders. That's where the next problem arises: the technological political goals must be agreed on. The political decision makers must evaluate the strategic position of the aerospace branch. In this context it will be very important, how the individual nations evaluate the value of their aerospace industries' high-tech potential for the efficiency and prosperity of their own economies. Even though the aerospace branch has only a little share of the entire industry (one percent in Germany), it must be clear that its economical benefit is not a result from quantity but, from its quality. It's the aerospace industry's synergetic effects that generates the potentials, which, according to a recent structure analysis by the experts from ifo (Institute for Economic Research), "are the reason for the comparative advantages of a highly developed industrial country in a dynamic global competition". The merits of German politics and of the government's aerospace coordinator are indisputable. But, the process should not be frozen on the current status quo. What the German aerospace industry needs is an even stronger governmental commitment and, facing the wave of fusionings in the USA, a clear and fast strategic upgrade. From page 4 of FLUG REVUE 12/97 Look fo the current Airbus product line-up in our Gallery! Home | Update | Latest Issue | Gallery | FR Profile | Datafiles | FR 12/97 Copyright 1997 by Motor-Presse Stuttgart. All rights reserved. Last updated November 7, 1997 FLUG REVUE, Ubierstr. 83, 53173 Bonn, Germany