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ESSENTIALS FOR EUROPEAN AEROSPACE RESTRUCTURING SUCCESS

A legacy: at the occasion of being awarded the Aerospace Trophy 1998 by FLUG REVUE and its sister magazine aerokurier, the former co-ordinator of the German government for aerospace matters, Dr. Norbert Lammert, reflected on past events.

"I feel that the Aerospace Trophy is not an award for an outstanding discovery or decision, neither it is a dedication of a special lifetime achievement. I am glad to be able to view it as a sign of personal sympathy for the execution of an office which I was delighted to hold for almost four years - and since this was occasionally noticeable, I do not have to deny it here.

I took the office in January 1995 with a large amount of good will and a rather limited amount of special knowledge. Mostly, this remained as it was until the end, the natural skill of being able to fluently phrase the little what I had understood benefiting me during my time in this position. The transfer into the new office was accompanied both by doubts and good will. I will never forget when my oldest son, at that time at the age of seventeen, told me at the day of my appointment, that now he knew what he had to think of this government: The only person in the family who proved not to have any knowledge on aviation at all was to receive this job. A few weeks later, the very president of the society of German aerospace industries claimed that the new co-ordinator for aerospace matters meanwhile had an "awful amount of special knowledge" at his disposal. The second statement was equally as exaggerated as the first was impertinent. Those people who have observed me during the last few years must have noticed that the one thing did not plunge me into depression and that the other did not make me presumptuous.

These four years were an interesting and thrilling time with a lot of unusual challenges and new developments which have been initiated in politics and industry and are, according to my opinion, irreversible but yet unfinished.

My impression is, if I may phrase it as a personal attempt of a summary: Today we are farther ahead in the development as could have been forecasted in the past. But still we did not proceed as far as we could have and basically had to. As the most important achievement of my time in the office I value the new definition of the political framework for the further development of the European aerospace industry. And if I am really content with something then I am satisfied with the fact that this new definition of the political framework was accomplished almost without any conflicts on a national as well as international scale.

Neither in the German parliament nor between the important countries of the European Community interested in aerospace affairs exists any controversy worth mentioning about the necessary orientation and the essential setting for the further development. Finally, this is not a sufficient foundation. Yet it is a very sound base for further events. This was possible only because of my capable and dedicated co-workers, whom I like to thank at this occasion. I lived of their expert knowledge.

Now I know that it is a little bit risky to ruin one's good reputation created over a few years in office by citing some totally unnecessary final words concerning a topic of which one is not responsible any longer. But since I know that anyhow some of you fear, and perhaps a few of you hope, that I say at least a few sentences to this topic, I do not want to disappoint neither of you and try to briefly summarise some of the experiences and assessments which I gained during this time and which may be of some use on the way towards realising the final aim.

1. Indeed, aerospace industry is a strategic branch of business. But I have to note that when politics and industry talk of the aerospace industry as a strategic branch they often do not allude to the same thing.

2. The aerospace industry is a political line of business as well, and will continue to be as such in the future. I guess that there is no other sector in our political economy, no matter how large it may be, which is and will be similarly conditioned in a political way as the aerospace industry. This does not mean that political orientations are to replace economic necessities. Yet, economic necessities alone cannot create possible and necessary developments.

3. If we talk of aerospace matters we are often not conscious of the fact that the public associates only a few large companies with aerospace affairs. But this does not describe the German aerospace industry to its full extent. I want to explicitly point out that the German aerospace industry consists not only of those few large enterprises but of a large number of smaller corporations, many equipment companies, general aviation, sport flying, science and a multitude of others who contribute important things in a quite unusual way. Therefore I very much hope that both the people who will continue to deal with this controversial topic in the future as well as the people who report on this topic from time to time will help to avoid the tendency towards exaggerated perceptions by the first group of people as well as the tendency to support these perceptions by the second group. Instead of the 25th report on the A3XX it might prove to be better to do a second report on this or that technological innovation in the field of subsystems. My experience in this field of business shows that the devotion to the cause does not normally increase with the size of the company. My subjective impression is that the devotion to the cause sometimes is reversibly proportional to the importance of the corporation.

4. If we talk of aerospace matters, we have to understand aviation as a system. I sensed the responsibilities of the co-ordinator not only for the industry, apparently to a larger extent than my predecessors. Airports and airlines belong to aviation together with aircraft, and finally they can function only if the system as a whole is capable to sustain itself. I noticed, and it did not escape you either, that the status of modernisation and reorganisation is developed quite differently in the various fields of aviation. While we already have global alliances in the airline business, and the industry is discussing European regulations, the development of Germany's airports leads me to the conclusion that it will not be long before the local allotment garden societies will take-over, or at least attempt to take-over, the responsibility of the airport's development. Sometimes I heed some unhappy thoughts regarding the framework for airport developments. Privatisation is, according to my opinion, a necessary but not a sufficient condition for the restructuring that we desperately need in the whole field of aerospace. But if I look at the mode of obtaining permissions to expand airports and the whole planning processes for the clearly necessary development of German airports, I had to think sometimes that after a time when federal governments regularly had shares in airports, one may consider whether the airports may have to participate in the federal governments in the future to make developments possible which grow more and more difficult over the times.

5. The insight that a re-structuring on a European scale is unavoidable is widely spread. The realisation of this insight into new structures is explicitly tenacious. If general insights collide with specific interests, it is going to be hard for the insights. This is to be observed in the industry in a similar fashion as in politics. The present state of the order books in the industry does not promote the establishing of new European structures. A few weeks ago I read in an important German newspaper that a representative of an especially large German aerospace corporation is supposed to have said the following at the occasion of the Farnborough airshow: "People tactically barter, threaten and cooperate, all with the aim to increase the fighting weight." Unfortunately I cannot reject this statement since I often made similar observations. But God help us if the German aerospace industry has to cope with the next cyclic and therefore foreseeable downturn of the aerospace market in its antiquated structure. And please nobody should come and say that there was no time and no insight to realise other structures fit for competition in time. I do not critize the multiplication of the industrial interests. But sometimes one has to decide whether one wants the multiplication of own interests or the improvement of the general structures. From time to time it is impossible to achieve both things. I am convicted that the improvement of structures serves to multiply the interests and that the reversed attempt is legitimate but will prove to be unsuccessful.

6. The German-French friendship is no European solution, but it is an unavoidable prerequisite. Who wants to create European solutions by producing a two-state solution, has to know the risks of such a way very well, if this is taken seriously at all. Ultimate invitations to the French government do not aid the desired development most of the time. They narrow political areas of movement instead of increasing them. While I have the impression that the politicians have understood in the meantime that they have to withstand the temptation to think of themselves as the better industrialists, there now is a fatal tendency of the industry to attempt to create better policies. The first thing is as less productive as the second. Industry and politicians have to attend to their specific responsibilities, if possible in the same direction.

7. If I would have the opportunity to have a wish fulfilled at the occasion of my leave from the formal responsibility for this kind of business, a wish to the German aerospace industry, in particular to the industry but the whole aerospace scene as well, then this wish can be summarised in the simple appeal of more corps de espirit. When comparing other European nations, I noticed that the tendency to protect own interests against everybody and even the rest of the world is especially distinct in Germany. The readiness first to understand common interests and second to realise them has not developed very far here. We could use a large amount of corps de espirit very well too, which is absolutely necessary for the European process. This I mean not as a single-sided appeal to the industry or the unions but to everybody who is responsible in matters of aerospace, naturally including the ones in politics.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I met a lot of impressive people both in Germany and in foreign countries during the past few years. I do want to mention that I encountered, next to several impressive innovations and developments, some peculiarities which do not suit the high claims with which one is justifiably surrounding oneself and do even less fit to the challenges that have to be solved. I made friends with many people, and if possible I want to continue these friendships. As a member of the economic commission I will still be connected to aerospace. I part with the office both in a happy and in a sad mood. Maybe it is the most beautiful and at the same time the most hopeless occupation in the German government. It is a hopeless post because the co-ordinator does not have a decision making competence. Yet it is beautiful because in this office you can stir and create developments. I am delighted that you have got this impression of my period in this office. Please keep me in good memory. I promise you to do the same."

From page 24 of FLUG REVUE 3/99