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Airbus Takes
Position Against Boeing
In a scene reminiscent of the American television program "Point-Counterpoint," the Airbus Industrie press conference followed one conducted by Boeing. While neither side engaged in acrimony, friendly references to each other were not the order of the day. Speakers at both press meetings made reference to last September's Farnborough conferences, where the floor collapsed during Boeing's conference leading to the postponement of Airbus'.
Never one to mince words, the colorful Airbus executive quickly jumped on the proposed Boeing-McDonnell Douglas merger. "This is an attempt by an already dominant player to force Europe to remain a marginal player. It is the germ of an attempt to monopolize the aerospace industry." The broadsides were just starting. Pierson stated that the philosophy of Airbus is open comptition, adding, "this is contrary to exclusivity." The Airbus position is that exclusive deals are illegal in Europe, "and absolutely contrary to European legislation," citing Article 85 and Article 86 orf the Treaty of Rome. Sliding under his halo for a moment, Pierson added, "When we are operating in any country, we follow the laws of the country." Airbus doesn't plan to take a passive role during the coming months. "We will apply all legal and neessary actions against the Boeing-McDonnell Douglas merger, or Europe will have to change the law," said Pierson. And, that may extend to the airlines with which Boeing has forged long-term relationships. "These three airlines [American, Continental and Delta] operate in Europe and are subject to European law," said Pierson. Exclusive deals create two big problems, he went on to say. The first is they lock up the market, locking out competition. The second is, they stop the aircraft development progress. The real duration of a 20-year exclusive deal, explained Pierson, is that it is not 20-year exclusivity - it's really 35-45 years. Further, the average life of a commercial aircaft is 35-45 years. Taking a nominal timeframe of 30 years through the life of the aircraft, "these exclusive deals are not for 20 years, but for eternity," he said with characteristic passion. As he concluded his remarks, Pierson's wrap up statement seemed almost a rallying cry to the forces against evil. "Our past record has been a result of the heat of competition and that will be the rule for the new world order." Okay, Jean, but don't hold anything back now, please. In fact, Jean Pierson shared his personal opinion on the proposed Boeing
- McDonnell Douglas merger for AeroWorldNet readers in a related
article. |
Airbus
managing director Jean Pierson started the conference by discussing the
changes affecting the aerospace industry. As proof, he described four factors.
First is the movement toward consolidation in every industry, including
aerospace. Second, said Pierson, is the brutality of competition, citing
the demise of Fokker as an example. As a side note, he observed that Fokker
had elected to go it alone, rather than join with other manufacturers. Pierson
pointed out that the third factor was the reality that a number of countries
now have aspirations to create indigenous aerospace industries. He observed
that these efforts will not be accomplished in isolation. And, lastly, he
pointed to the political and economic forces facing the world, using the
single European currency as one example. All of these things are leading
to a revision in the rules for international trade.