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Aviation History
2004
2004-09 - 2626.PDF
FULL LIST OF READER SERVICES RTISER CONTACT EDITORIAL + 44 (20) 8652 3842 Quadrant House, Tin Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5AS, UK Fax +44 (ZO) 8652 3840 email flightMemational@rbi.co.uk Editor Murdo Morrison +44 (20) 8652 4395 mmdo.morrisoniPrbi.coMk Editorial Assistant Andrew Costerton +44 (20) 8652 3835 andrew.costerton@rbi.co.uk News Editor Andrew Doyle +44 (20) 8652 3096 andrew.doyle@rbi.co.uk Commercial Aviation Editor Max Kingsley-Jones +44 (20) 8652 3825 max.kingsley.jones@rbi.co.uk Defence Editor Craig Hoyle +44 (20) 8652 3834 craig.hoyle@rbi.co.uk Operations/Safety Editor David Leai mount +44 (20) 8652 3845 david.tearmount@rbi.co.uk Business & General Aviation Editor Kate Sarsfield +44 (20) 8652 3885 kate.sarsfield@rbi.co.uk Senior Reporter Justin Wastnage +44 (20) 8652 3863justin.wastnage@rbi.co.uk Business Reporter Helen Massy-Beresford +44 (20) 8652 3990 helen.massy.beresford@rbi.co.uk Technical Reporter Rob Coppinger +44 (20) 8652 3843 rob.coppinger@rbi.co.uk Associate Editor (Defence) Peter La Franchi +61419 246 620 Fax +61 (2) 62312795 nulka@ozemail.com.au Spaceflight Correspondent Tim Furniss +44 (1237) 477883 tim@spaceport.co.uk Senior Technical Artist Giuseppe Picarella +44 (20) 8652 8054 joe.picarella@rbi.co.uk Editorial Artist Tim Brown +44 (20) 8652 8043 tim.brown@rbi.co.uk EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST Israel Correspondent Arie Egozi +972 (3) 9413132 Russia Correspondent Vladimir Karnozov mr00079@east.ru AMERICAS Washington DC Office Fax +1 (703) 836 8344 Americas Editor Graham Warwick +1 (703) 836 3448 graham.warwick@rbi.co.uk East Coast Editor Stephen Trimble +1 (703) 836 3084 stephen.trimble@rbi.co.uk West Coast Editor Guy Norris +1 (949) 252 8971 Fax +1 (949) 252 8972 guy.norris@rbi.co.uk Brazil Correspondent Jackson Flores Jr +55 212439-6062 Fax +55 212349-6090 fubar@uol.com.br Canada Correspondent Brian Dunn ASIA/PACIFIC Singapore Office Fax +65 6789 7575 Regional Managing Editor Nicholas lonides +65 6780 4311 nicholas.ionides@rbi.co.uk Deputy Asia Editor Brendan Sobie +65 6780 4309 brendan.sobie@rbi.co.uk Regional Reporter Leithen Francis +65 6780 4314 teithen.francis@rbi.co.uk Australia Civil Aviation Correspondent Emma Kelly +61 (8) 9454 4987 emmajkelly@bigpond.com EDITORIAL PRODUCTION Group Production Editor Graeme Osborn +44 (20) 8652 3828 Group Art Editor James Mason +44 (20) 8652 4994 Chief Sub-Editor Chris Thornton +44 (20) 8652 4997 Sub Editor Simon Rees +44 (20) 8652 3848 Photographer Mark Wagner +44 (20) 8944 5225 WWW.FLIGHTINTERNATIONAL.COM Webmaster Sheena Buchanan +44 (20) 8652 4432 webmaster@flightinternational.com SUBSCRIPTIONS +44 (1444) 445454 rbi.subscriptions@rbi.co.uk THE FLIGHT COLLECTION kim.hearn@rbi.co.uk © and Database Rights 2004 Reed Business Information Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing of the publishers -.- j^»«k^MBi AvSoft, part of The Flight Group, is a producer of fiSvmt^trt computer-based aviation market information systems and safety management software. Tel: +441788 540898 email: sales@avsoft.co.uk www.avsoft.co.uk / 71- f 1 Air Transport Intelligence (ATI), Flight International's sister -\J J onl'ne service at www.rati.com, contains the full text of Flight wmmm International and Airline Businesssina 1996. Full text of the magazines can also be found online with Lexis-Nexis, Dialogue, FT Profile, IAC and Reuters. Editor KieranDaly+44 (20) 8652 3837 Reed Business Information COMMENT Broken axis Americans watching from the sidelines must be enjoying it. Many Europeans probably have their heads in their hands. Just when EADS and its fellow continental Europeans looked finally poised to loosen the stranglehold of domestic manufacturers in the US defence market, along comes a classic European power struggle that must confirm every transatlantic prejudice of the region's industry as a cauldron of Machiavellian rivalries, string- pulling politicians and deep-rooted national enmities. For four and a half years, EADS has been on a charm offensive to convince the world that it has put behind it its past as an awkward arranged marriage of four legacy businesses from three countries - two formerly state- owned, two private. Its current cheery advertising campaign emphasises the cos mopolitan mix of its employees - Americans, Australians and Britons as well as French, EADS's embarrassing public rifts are damaging its hard-won image as a global player that has put national rivalries behind it German (a thirteenth, a German, retired last year and was not replaced). Although Paris's stake in Aerospatiale was watered down to 50% when it merged with Lagardere-owned Matra in the late 1990s and to just 15% of the new EADS in 2000, French cabinet ministers have always felt it their birthright to influence the destiny of what they believe is their national aerospace champion. This sort of political grandstanding infuriates EADS execu tives over the Rhine, who have a much more Anglo- Saxon attitude to business, and cer tainly sparked Hertrich's outburst in a German newspaper about "personal ambition" being behind recent French moves. A spat that is as much about egos and poli tics as the direction of the business will not derail EADS. After all, the company's success over four years has been due to it securing a competitive edge in products from airliners to helicopters, missiles to space technology. However, such a public tiff is bound to harm EADS's export prospects, particularly in the USA. Americans believe French politicians - already a despised breed after the country's refusal to back the USA in Iraq -wield a much bigger influence on EADS than they actually do (the French government appoints just one member of EADS's supervisory board - and his day job is running the railways). Boeing's troubles over the US Air Force tanker contract had considerably cut the odds on EADS mak ing a historic breakthrough in the US defence market. Now it looks as if the European com pany has shot itself in the foot, with opponents certain to cite these cross-border animosities as proof EADS cannot be trusted with a sensi tive Pentagon contract. EADS clearly still has some growing up to do. Its heritage can never be swept under the carpet. The aerospace industries of France and Germany were products of politically driven post-war industrial reconstruction. Because of the continent's history, EADS would never have evolved from pioneering aviation businesses in the way Boeing and Lockheed Martin did. But the sooner the French government divests its stake (and Lagardere and DaimlerChrysler concentrate on publishing magazines and mak ing cars, as they have vowed to once the A380 goes into service), the quicker EADS will become a truly global business. Perhaps one of the first steps to that goal would be replacing Camus and Hertrich not with a Frenchman and German, but with a single chief executive from a neutral country..a Briton, an Italian or Spaniard. Even - whisper it- an American. SEE HEADLINES P4 Such a public tiff is bound to harm EADS's export prospects in the US German and Spanish - all working for one EADS. The twin chief executive set-up of Frenchman Philippe Camus, from Lagardere, and German Rainer Hertrich, from DaimlerChrysler, was unorthodox but appeared to work: the two have a strong work ing and personal relationship and have simply got on, most of the time, with overseeing their own distinct chunks of the business and deal ing with their respective national shareholders and governments. Although Hertrich told colleagues last sum mer that he planned to step down next year, the circumstances of his announcement- coming after rumours of behind-the-scenes manoeuvring in the highest circles of French government to engineer an EADS merger with Thales and replace Camus and Hertrich with Airbus boss Noel Forgeard as single chief executive - expose serious fissures between the French and German camps. Berlin's meagre defence budget and the fact that, unlike France, it does not have a financial stake in EADS, have always given the Germans an inferiority complex within the organisation. Of the 12 members of EADS's executive committee, five are French and four www.flightinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 14-20 DECEMBER 2004 3
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