Now they need American ones, too.
Brussels on Thursday sought WTO approval for trade sanctions against Washington worth $12 billion a year.
“On the one side we have $90 billion (70 billion euros) of illegal financing of Airbus by the EU and on the other side we have $3.0-$4.0 billion for Boeing.”
In a move meant to liven up the world’s oldest and perhaps stodgiest air and space trade fair, organizers of Germany’s ILA have decided to hold this year’s show on the grounds of Berlin’s infamous haunted Berlin-Brandenburg Ghost Airport.
Local legend has it that the abandoned ghost airport, originally planned to actually be completed one day and used as a real airport with real airplanes and passangers and the whole bit, fell under the curse of a group of disgruntled Brandenburg witches protesting potential Fluglärm (fly-over noise) and can never be completed until Berlin’s city government presents its first balanced budget or hell freezes over, whichever comes first.
A spotless new runway, so far unused for commercial flights, will finally feel the burn of rubber.
Especially when they’re Boeing 747-8-Jumbos.
Mit einer Rumpflänge von 76,3 Metern übertrifft die 747-8 als jetzt längster Passagierjet den Airbus A340-600 um knapp einen Meter und den Airbus A380 um vier Meter. Das Boeing-Flagschiff kann bis zu 600 Passagiere aufnehmen.
At least that’s what the Germans will tell you if you ask them, which of course nobody is.
OK, we’re actually talking about EADS here. “The German government is deeply concerned by the concentration and centralisation of research and development competencies in the headquarters in Toulouse, which have to a large degree led to the current imbalance,” a pissed off big-time German politician has lamented.
So much for Franco-German understanding (yet again). And if it were up to the Germans, they would even see to it that EADS ensure “equal numbers of French and German nationals occupy positions in the top five leadership levels,” although how you would equally distribute five people is unclear to me (government can do this kind of stuff, you know).
But none of this will lead to anything, folks. I can tell you that right now. The Airbus Chief Executive and designated EADS boss isn’t about to let any pigheaded German government official tell him what to do. His name is Thomas Enders and he’s a pigheaded German himself.
EADS was formed in 2000 from French, German and Spanish assets as a counterweight to U.S. aerospace and defense giants.
As expected, now that stuff is happening HERE, the Germans start getting all nervous and fidgety and s#*!t and suddenly want the EU to agree to tighter air freight security and are basically hyperventilating all over the place, which is fine with me (it’s about time). The alarmists.
Although Europeans certainly do have enough to hyperventilate about these days. When it comes to planes, I mean.
But the contract with Emirates Airlines announced during the Berlin Air Show is even bigger.
No Hintergedanken (ulterior motives) here or anything, though.
Dubai’s Emirates Airline ordered 32 additional Airbus A380 superjumbo jetliners, and deliberately announced the $11.5 billion deal in Germany’s capital to fight a trade battle with flag carrier Deutsche Lufthansa AG.
Emirates, which had already ordered 58 of the world’s largest passenger plane, wants Berlin to grant it greater access to the huge German aviation market. Lufthansa argues that its home market of 80 million people shouldn’t be thrown open to a carrier from one of the United Arab Emirates. Dubai has a population of roughly 3.5 million people. Carriers from the UAE may now serve at most four German cities.
Erst 2015 sollen die Produktionskosten so weit gesenkt sein, dass der Flieger Gewinn abwirft. Im Klartext: Die meisten der 32 an Emirates verkauften Maschinen werden Airbus einen Verlust bescheren.
Tank this. Damn. Hurt feeling time again for Europeans with a military industrial complex.
“Airbus and its U.S. partner, Northrop Grumman (NOC), declined to bid on the tanker contract because they didn’t think they could win. That’s because they believed that the Pentagon’s specifications for the deal favored Boeing’s smaller 767 over the larger Airbus A330.”
Erst sah es so aus, als würde EADS Tankflugzeuge für die US-Luftwaffe bauen. Dann hat die US-Regierung die Ausschreibung im Sinne des heimischen Konzerns Boeing geändert. In Europa läuft das bei solchen Projekten nicht anders. Dabei braucht die Rüstungsindustrie dringend mehr Wettbewerb.
Observing Hermann 