Julian Moxon/PARIS
FURTHER DETAILS have emerged about the structure within which Airbus Industrie will manage the Future Large Aircraft (FLA) programme.
The structure is complex, as the organisation includes Italy's Alenia, which is not a member of the civil-aircraft consortium.
The aim has been to ensure that all five members of what will probably be called Airbus Military Company (AMC) have equivalent shareholdings, while Airbus Industrie, as the manager of the FLA programme, has a larger stake, expected to amount to around 30%.
The remaining 70% of AMC will be divided between the five shareholders. To achieve parity, Alenia will become the second largest single shareholder, with a stake of around 20%, while CASA will have about 18%, BAe 15%, and Aerospatiale and DASA 9.5% each.
With their existing stakes in Airbus added, each of the four companies will retain equivalent shares to Alenia in management of the FLA programme (Flight International, 21-27 June).
Aerospatiale's Charles Champion, has been named as the temporary "head of the operational team" of the FLA programme and is expected to be confirmed as AMC president, once the details have been settled.
In the original Airbus civil-aircraft structure, Aerospatiale and Daimler-Benz Aerospace have equal 37.9% shares, while British Aerospace has 20% and Spain's CASA 4.2%. This is structured under French law, within a Groupement d'Interet Economique (GIE), allowing a loose bonding of companies, while not tying them to a specific financial structure.
The new military element will work under a Societe Anonyme Simplifie (SAS), providing a full financially based shareholding, and a yearly balance sheet - the same system under which the new Aero International Regional (AIR) regional aircraft grouping, covering BAe and ATR will operate.
Source: Flight International