As Airbus fights accusations that it is carrying out 'trade blackmail' to fund the launch of the A350, the European manufacturer has hit back. It claims that the Boeing 787 Dreamliner is the "most subsidised airliner" in history and is being dumped on the market at "unprecedented low prices".
That was the uncompromising statement from Airbus and its parent companies EADS and BAE Systems as a renewed trade war between the United States and Europe erupted over how civil aircraft manufacturing is financed.
The US and Europe have both filed formal complaints with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) citing each other's civil aircraft champions as gaining unfair advantage through subsidies.
Attempts to negotiate an agreement between the European Union trade commission and US government foundered despite an offer from Europe to cut the level of launch aid EU governments give Airbus.
US trade officials reacted by saying that the offer did not go far enough, particularly in light of the fact that the EU was planning to commit a new tranche of $1.7 billion in launch aid to Airbus for the A350 programme.
EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson criticised the US for referring the issue to the WTO, believing that it could be thrashed out over the negotiating table. "It will, I fear, spark probably the biggest, most difficult, and costly legal dispute in WTO's history," he was quoted as saying.
Airbus and its parent companies renewed their commitment to resolving the issue by negotiation, while launching a blistering attack on arch-rival Boeing.
Its joint statement says: "The Boeing 787 has become the world's most subsidised airliner ever. Boeing has amassed more than $5 billion in government subsidies to pay for its development and production, through US and foreign-government R&D funds, tax relief schemes and launch aid.
"New subsidies are being added every day. But for these subsidies, Boeing could not have launched the 787, which is currently being dumped on the market at unprecedented low prices."
The statement cites a number of specific subsidies and 787 programme elements that were the product of subsidies.
"In the same vein, Boeing is massively lobbying the American Congress to forbid any competition on a future tanker for the US Air Force. The amendment is clearly designed to reduce competition and allow Boeing to retain its monopolist position in the US, while keeping full access to European defence markets."
For its part Boeing has been stepping up its lobbying effort both in the USA and Europe to set the record straight on subsidies. "These glib assertions have been around for a long time," according to Thomas Pickering, Boeing's senior vice-president international relations. The allegations that the company receives research and development subsidies are unfounded, he adds.
Boeing questions the need for Airbus to receive state funding for the launch of the A350. "Let's step back and say here's Airbus, it's a very successful company: Why do they need government support if they are doing so well?" asks Pickering.
"We strongly prefer a negotiated solution to a litigated solution," he says. Any solution would require a set of common and transparent rules on programme funding, and a frequent method of reporting, governing both manufacturers, that spells out what each receives from states directly and indirectly in R&D funding.
Source: Flight Daily News