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Aviation History
1993
1993 - 0005.PDF
[mjMxnr I N T E B * A T I O M A L +44 (B1) 652 3842 +44 (81) 652 3840 +44 (81) 652 3315 +44 (81) 652 8981 +44 (81) 652 3816 +44 (81) 652 3279 Editorial Enquiries Editorial Fax Display Advertising Display Advertising Fax Classified Advertising Classified Advertising Fax Telex 892084 REEDBP G Subscriptions +44 (81) 649 7271 fax: +44 (81) 681 0753 Back issues (recent copies only) +44 (81) 652 3335 Picture Library +44 (81) 652 3427 Flight Directories +44 (707) 46952 USA Newstrade Sales Enquiries +1 (718) 392 7477 LONDON Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton Surrey SM2 5AS, UK Editorial enquiries Editor Allan Winn Editor's PA Barbara Raine Deputy Editor Forbes Mulch News Editor Andrew Chuter Features Editor David Learmounl Business Editor Kevin O'Toole Military Editor Mike Gaines Air Transport Editor Ian Goold +44 (81) 652 3842 +44 (81) 652 3882 +44 (81) 652 3882 +44 (81) 652 3852 +44 (81) 652 3843 +44 (81) 652 3845 +44 (81) 652 3835 +44 (81) 652 8809 +44 (81) 652 3834 Technology/Industry Editor Simon Elliott +44 (81) 652 3838 Databases Editor Tom Hamill +44 (81) 652 3096 Editorial Assistant Kate Sarsfield +44 (81) 652 3842 Production Editor Chris Thornton +44 (81) 652 3850 Design Editor Mike Wells +44 (81) 652 3828 Layout Sub-editor Annabel Goddard +44 (81) 652 3848 Layout Sub-editor Jenny Long +44 (81) 652 3847 Technical Artist Tim Hall +44 (81) 652 8047 Technical Artist David Hatchard +44 (81) 652 8047 Technical Artist John Marsden +44 (81) 652 8054 Spaceflight Correspondent Tim Furntss +44 (237) 451756 Fax +44 (237) 451600 Photographer (Europe) Mark Wagner +44 (81) 944 5225 Display Advertisement Sales Sales Manager Clive Richardson +44 (81) 652 3315 Assistant Sales Manager Nick Wilcox +44 (81) 652 3892 Regional Manager Northern and Eastern Europe Mark Janaway+44 (81) 652 3317 Regional Manager UK and Scandinavia Janice Lowe +44 (81) 652 3316 Advertisement production Howard Mason +44 (81) 652 3267 EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST European Editor (Brussels) Julian Moxon +32 (2) 657 9689 Fax +32 (2) 657 5260 Munich Correspondent Douglas Barrie +49 (89) 689 1041 Fax +49 (89) 689 1045 Paris Correspondent Gilbert Sedbon +33 (1) 4825 5261 Israel Correspondent Arie Egozi +972 (3) 967 1155 Moscow Correspondent Alexander Velovicri+7 (095) 393 4717 Fax +7 (095) 393 4717 Sales Director (France) Pierre Mussarc Representative (Italy) Romano Ferrario AMERICAS American Editor Graham Warwick +33 (1) 46 29 46 29 +39 (2) 58084 302 +1 (404) 587 2927 Fax +1 (404) 594 1534 Washington Correspondent Kieran Daly f USA West Coast Correspondent (Los Angeles) Guy Norris Photographer (USA) Craig Sctimitman +1 (703) 836 7443 ax +1 (703) 836 8344 +1 (714) 252 8971 ax +1 (714) 252 8972 +1 (310) 452 4464 Fax +1 (310) 452 3515 President RBP (USA) Ray Barnes +1 (212) 867 2080 Traflic Manager JoAnn Lapp +1 (212) 867 2080 Fax +1 (212) 687 6604 Vice President US Sales John Tidy +1 (714) 756 1057 Fax +1 (714) 756 2514 Sales Director (Mid West and Canada) Gene Glendinning+1 (708) 635 9920 Fax +1 (708) 635 0602 Sales Director (East Coast) Robert Hancock +1 (703) 836 7444 Fax +1 (703) 836 7446 Business Development Director Sheena Robbins +1 (703) 836 7444 Fax +1 (703) 836 7446 ASIA/PACIFIC Asian Editor (Singapore) John Bailey +65 226 3188 Fax +65 227 1769 Australian Correspondent Paul Phelan +61 (70) 532 791 Fax +61 (70) 532 791 Sales Director Mike Hancock (Singapore) Account Manager Fiona Bartholomeusz Regional Representative (Japan) Shoichi Maruyama +65 226 3188 +65 226 3188 Fax +65 223 6960 +81 (3) 3234 2161 Fax +81 (3) 3234 1143 Publisher Les Edwards +44 (81) 652 3436 For full advertisement information see inside back cover. COMMENT UNITED STAND T he strategic alliance between Aerospa tiale and Dassault was a welcome end-of-year surprise for an aerospace industry which, for the past two years, has been beset by the worst recession since the Second World War. France is the last major European country to rationalise its aircraft-manufacturing industry into one major aerospace group and, although the two companies have survived independently so far, there were doubts about the ability of Dassault to work it self back into being a profitable enter prise alone. Its re cent sale of Mirages to Taiwan can hardly be seen as a resurgence of fighter business when there has been virtually none for the previ ous two years. This is not to claim that Dassault brings nothing to the deal. It has suc ceeded in develop ing a successful electronics business, and its CATIA three-dimensional computer-aided de sign technology has won a place with manufacturer in the European industry has shown itself more able to survive in the form of multinational virtually every aircraft world. Dassault has also demonstrated its staying power in a global market with its Falcon business aircraft. With Aerospatiale's emphasis on civil aircraft, there is clearly a synergy between the two companies, and it has only been strongly inde pendent Dassault's resistance to Government pressure which has prevented the merger in the past. Now, against the backdrop of recession, and with the era of guaranteed state support at an end, the inevitable has happened. The move comes as the European aerospace industry takes a long, hard look at the future. Rationalisation is the key word, with fuel for this being provided by appalling overcapacity in some areas, particularly the manufacturing of regional airliners and fighter aircraft. Aerospatiale is one of the main players in Europe's regional-aircraft business, and it must be hoped that its next move will be to push for a merger with one of Europe's other regional manufacturers. This may not be easy, as the protracted negotiations between Fokker and Deutsche Aerospace have shown, but the alter native is probable disaster for at least one of the existing manufacturers. The aim of rationalisation is to improve Europe's competitiveness with the rest of the world, and particularly the USA which, as seen in the recent Lockheed takeover of General Dynamics, in busily engaged in its own rational isation programme. Europe has a long way to go before it can match the kind of US industrial dynamism which enables its companies to re-arrange them selves rapidly to deal with changes such as those brought about by the end of the Cold War. Europe has, however, shown that it can produce successful interna tional consortia, the prime examples being Airbus Industrie and Eurocopter, which are both second only to US manufacturers. The powerhouse for rationalisation in the USA is nothing less than economic sur vival; the philosophy being "no sales, no company". That same reality has taken longer to emerge in European industry, but, in any case, it has shown itself more able to survive in the form of multinational consortia rather than straight company takeovers. The Aerospatiale-Dassault deal will create a more powerful and readily identifiable national aerospace block, and there is now a stronger case for France to take a greater role in leading European industry in the battle against US and Far East competition. Whether this happens remains to be seen. France, like others, often supports the European ideal only when it sees the potential for national advantage. Airbus and Arianespace are both supposed to be European bodies but they are France-based and, in the minds of many French people, are actually French. Nobody can doubt that France's role in these alliances has helped to revitalise a major part of the European aerospace industry, but it must not stop there. The future of Europe's individual national aerospace industries must lie in interna tional projects. The industry as a whole must be truly European and, more, must be seen to be European by the rest of the world. • consortia rather than straight company takeovers." FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 6 - 12 January, 1993
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