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Aviation History
1990
1990 - 2838.PDF
BUSINESS Australia to sell off airlines BY PAUL PHELAN IN CAIRNS Qantas and Australian Air lines have been earmarked ior privatisation in an Austra lian Government decision on 6 September approving the sale of up to 49% of both airlines. Prime minister Bob Hawkes says that the final level of equity sale has yet to be set, and "...will not necessarily be the same for both airlines". The Australian Government's favoured outcome is understood to be a total sell-off of Austra lian and 49% of Qantas, but this depends on a review of party policy at a special Australian Labour party meeting on 24 September and on a further cabinet meeting to be held be fore then. The powerful Australian Council of Trade Unions has told transport and communica tions minister Kim Beazley that more than 49% privatisation for either airline was unaccept able. Both airlines have foreshad owed possible foreign equity. Qantas chairman Bill Dix said that he "...would not rule it out", mentioning British Air ways, Japan Airlines, Lufthansa and American Airlines, all of whom have strong commercial ties with Qantas, as possible equity partners. He says that the carrier's capital funding require ments in the medium term call for more than A$l billion ($800 million) to set a favourable debt-to-equity ratio of 60:40. Australian Airlines chief ex ecutive John Schaap says that discussions have been held with overseas airlines and that em ployee shareholders will also be sought. • Australian airlines line up for privatisation Airbus: 'no progress on trade talks' Airbus Industrie is making progress towards a corpo rate structure, according to na tional industry ministers of the Airbus Industrie partner coun tries meeting in London. No progress was acknowl edged, however, on talks to resolve the transatlantic disa greement about government support for aircraft manufac ture, currently being discussed under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Airbus supervisory board chairman Dr Hans Friderichs reported to the ministers that Airbus partner companies are continuing studies to produce a more efficient management structure for the consortium. The ultimate aim is to drop the Groupement d'Interet Econ- omique (GIE) structure in fa vour of a corporate one. West German aerospace sec retary Dr Erich Riedl says that the matter is taking a time to resolve due to its complexity. The complexity stems from the fact that two of the four main partners are nationalised companies, with government money being invested in all Airbus projects except the A321, which was privately fi nanced. Any attempt at unifying the consortium requires deci sions on shared control and direct foreign influence on na tional assets British trade and industry sec retary Peter Lilley, asked why the consortium is so closely monitored by politicians rather than left with its supervisory board and bankers to reorgan ise, explained: "Well, you could say we are its bankers." Boeing and McDonnell Douglas have always objected, through the US Government, to government launch aid and any other form of industrial help for Airbus projects, claiming this gives an unfair advantage. Lilley said the Airbus minis ters' meeting had discussed "... the present position on the in formal talks with the USA on the interpretation of the GATT agreement on trade in civil air craft ... and reaffirmed their desire to resolve the dispute in a constructive spirit within a short time." Airbus president Jean Pierson says: "Airbus has always de clared its wishes for fair and balanced support ... and is still in the same position, seeking a fair and balanced agreement." Boeing Commercial Airplane Company executive vice-presi dent Phil Condit says: "There are signs of movement by Air bus toward a corporate configu ration, but we would welcome more than signs." Meanwhile, Pierson says that the weak dollar is hurting Air bus, whose income is in dollars but most of whose costs are in other currencies. There is no Airbus plan to deviate from the global practice of trading aircraft in dollars, however, according to Pierson, who says that the possibility of trading in European Currency Units (ECUs) has been studied and no long-term advantage has been found. • Defence lift for BAe's half-year British Aerospace results for the first six months of 1990 have confirmed that sales from its defence companies remain strong, despite the overall de cline in military spending. The company reports a pre tax profit of £146 million for the six months ending 30 June, down £1 million on the same period last year. The figure would have been £170 million, but BAe deducted an excep tional charge of £24 million to cover costs of the engineering strike which hit both the civil and military aircraft divisions. Sales from the defence com panies, which include the mili tary aircraft division, BAe Dy namics and Royal Ordnance, stand at £2.055 billion since January, up by £452 million on the same period last year. BAe's overall trading profit before ex ceptional items was £234 mil lion, an increase of £62 million on 1989. Trading profit for the defence group was £177 mil lion, up £71 million on 1989. BAe's overall sales for the period were £4.786 billion, up from £4 billion last year, of which commercial aircraft ac counted for £635 million. The trading profit for the commer cial aircraft division was £15 million, up from £1 million. • The Flight International Di rectory oj British Aviation 1991/1992 is now being com piled. If your company ap peared in the 1989/1990 di rectory as an airline, air taxi operator, flying club or air field operator you should have received a print-out of your old entry. Likewise, if you are involved in the man ufacture of aerospace-related components, or were noted in the Who's Who of British Aviation. If you have not re ceived a form and believe that you should have an entry in the director)', con tact urgently Flight Interna tional Directories, PO Box 1315, Potters Bar, Herts EN6 1PU, UK or fax 0707 46936. 18 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 19 - 25 September 1990
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