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Aviation History
1991
1991 - 1246.PDF
NEWSMAKERS FAMILY MATTERS Jean Pierson, Airbus Industries' charismatic managing director, has piloted the consortium to a 30% share of world airliner orders, making it second only to Boeing, and is looking for a 40% share within the next 15 years. way, says "that we're CC' | 'here is no A. Jean Pierson going to field an aircraft that is too close to the competitiveness of the Boeing 747. It has to be at least 15% better on direct operating cost. We have in mind the improvements they will make to the 747 by the year 2000...our obligation is to offer something to the market that is far better than that." For the first time in a new aircraft study, Airbus has as sembled four pre-project teams from its partners Aerospatiale, Deutsche Aerospace (DASA), British Aerospace and CASA. "We're starting to organise a competition among them to de fine the configuration of a 600- seater. Within a year we'll have a presentation of the four pro jects to our board. We may select one from that, but my view is that we should choose two," states Pierson. If, how ever, the pre-projects do not yield an aircraft that is suffi ciently competitive with the 747, "...we'll start again." Assuming they do, each pre- project will be refined, "...so that in 1993 we can freeze the project and prepare for a launch in 1996/7". Airbus will then start looking for risk-sharing partners for the programme, which Pierson estimates will cost "about $4 billion". The "Super Airbus" is in tended to cover the high- capacity end of the market. At the 130-seat end, Pierson is adamant that Airbus has a right to offer its own aircraft (Flight International, 8-14 May), a shortened derivative of the A320, as part of the A320 "fam ily". Pierson says: "We've been requested by the Airbus board to do this study". Launch will come towards the end of this year "...but only through NASA, the Department of Transportation, and defence research spin-offs. "In exchange we would like total transparency in the indi rect support which the US manufacturers receive...be tween 1978 and 1987 we es timate that Boeing and McDon nell Douglas received some $23 billion of indirect support. The ••I^IBH^B US taxpayer contributes more to the US aeronautical in dustry than does his Euro pean counter part," claims Pi erson. Pierson fa vours the US system of prime contractorship, with specific contracts given to subcontrac tors, as "a sim ple, efficient method of man agement". The G1E (Groupe- ment d'lnteret Ec onomique) system used by Airbus has many advan- more than 400 tages for the aircraft in these JeOM PieYSOfl, AirbllS consortium, in- two airlines," eluding a good he adds. MBIWWBMii^ if there is a sufficient market. If the case is good, we will have to proceed." Development costs of around S300 million make the A319, as it is called, a "much better business proposition" than the brand-new 130-seat regional aircraft which DASA wants to build. "I believe we could sell up to 2,000 aircraft in the A320, A321 and A319 fam- Hi^Mli^MH ily," says Pier son. "It's a feel ing inside me...we really do have the right aircraft. Today, with the A320, we have achieved the same despatch reliability as it took with the A310 and A300-600 in eight years." American and Delta are look ing for replace ments for their fleets of short- to medium- range airliners. "We'll be a very serious compet itor. There are "Our aim is to finance our future programmes from in-house funds" Pierson outlines the position with respect to the GATT trade- code negotiations — and the intense disagreement with the USA over the source of funding of new civil aircraft program mes. The current European po sition is that Airbus is willing to limit direct Government sup port for new programmes to 45%, but only if the USA pro vides details of its own Govern ment-to-industry funding bank finance rate, and a means of closing the gap between partner companies and a consortium. "I'm not say ing we'll stay with GIE for ever...but it for the moment it is the best way," says Pierson. Airbus recorded its first oper ating profit in 1990 (about $100 million), "...because internally we've made improvements on the costing side and externally we've improved our sales in terms of quantity and price paid". Profits are spread among the Airbus partners. Pierson points out: "When we declare a profit, that includes reimburse ment to the Governments. Con trary to what a number of our detractors believe, they were not free handouts." In 1990, Airbus repaid half a billion dollars of launch aid to partner companies, says Pier son. "This year it will be be tween 50% and 70% higher, depending on deliveries". The A3 21 programme is being fi nanced totally by Airbus. "Our aim is to finance our future programmes from in-house funds." He will not commit to the funding method for the 600/700-seater, however, say ing: "It depends on the situation of Airbus in 1997. If our share holders are in good shape in 1997, then Airbus is in good shape." Airbus, which has an order backlog of some 1,000 aircraft, says it is making "considerable efforts" to adjust to the difficul ties some of its airline custom ers are facing, and there have been requests for delayed deliv eries. Of the 17 order cancella tions so far, all but one — an A320 — have been relocated. An unexpected result of the airline slump was that the leas ing companies, with whom Air bus restricts its business to 20% of the whole, seem to have suffered less than the airlines. "It is the airlines which are requesting the delivery de lays... the leasing companies have not even knocked on the door," says Pierson, adding: "With the numbers of aircraft they ordered two years ago, we were afraid they would be the ones to suffer first." With three new or derivative aircraft on the slocks (A321, A330 and A340), Airbus is ex- 22 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 15-21 May, 1991
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