Word: airbuses
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...commercial planemakers have long dominated the world skies, but their near monopoly is under assault. Last week The Netherlands' KLM and West Germany's Lufthansa, which up to now have operated predominantly U.S.-made fleets, both announced important buys of wide-bodied, twin-engined planes built by Airbus Industrie, a consortium backed by four European governments...
While the Airbus consortium itself is not yet a giant, it is quickly becoming an important source of jobs as well as pride in Europe. Production at the final assembly plant in Toulouse, France, is scheduled to increase from 2.3 planes a month to six by 1982. The consortium's payroll will rise from 17,000 to 40,000 in the four participating countries, which divvy up the manufacturing in rough proportion to their Airbus ownership-37.9% for both France and West Germany, 20% for Britain, and 4.2% for Spain. The four have invested some $3 billion...
...Airbus sales did not begin to take off until last year, when Eastern Air Lines bought 23 of the $33 million A300s. Since then the backlog of Airbus orders has doubled, to $6.3 billion; today the firm accounts for one out of three sales of new wide-bodied planes. Indeed, since last year, it has sold almost as many wide-bodies as Boeing and more than McDonnell Douglas and Lockheed. These two companies have run out of steam because neither has launched a new model for the short-to medium-haul market. Says the consortium's French president, Bernard...
...sought both British Aerospace wings and Rolls-Royce engines for its new 757, a twin-engine plane that will carry up to 195 passengers on short-to medium-range flights. Simultaneously the British government, which owns the two companies, was being pressed by the French-German-Spanish owners of Airbus Industrie to join them instead in making a narrow-bodied Airbus. Playing a kind of commercial Solomon, Prime Minister James Callaghan tried to win for Britain a piece of both projects...
...Callaghan decided against British wings for the 757. Instead, the British Government pursued negotiations to join the Airbus consortium. That might strengthen Airbus as a Boeing competitor-if the British are allowed in. But the French threaten to freeze them out if Britain goes ahead with the Boeing deal. While it must find some other builder for its wings, Boeing can rejoice in having emerged from the dogfight with $1 billion-plus in orders-enough to assure the 757 a zooming sales takeoff...