Word: airbuses
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...rule change, which could go into effect by next summer, would be a boon to Seattle-based Boeing and Airbus Industrie, the West European aircraft consortium. Boeing has a new 767 twin-engine airliner with enough range to cross the Atlantic, and Airbus is building a similar plane called the A310-300. Many transatlantic airlines will probably be eager to buy and fly twin-engine jets because they burn about 50% less fuel than three and four- engine models of comparable size...
...report by the Council on Economic Priorities, a nonprofit research group, pointed out last week that the U.S. aerospace industry, which has depended heavily on Air Force contracts, is seeing its position as the world's leading producer of commercial aircraft being slowly but steadily eroded. Meanwhile, Airbus Industrie, a multinational European consortium of planemakers best known for the 270 passenger Airbus A300, is pushing energetically into overseas markets that once were virtual U.S. fiefdoms...
...passengers waiting patiently last Friday morning to board a DC-10 bound for Miami from Manchester, England, were stunned to hear over a loudspeaker that their flight had been canceled. An Airbus A300, already airborne toward Tenerife, reversed course and flew back to Manchester. At London's Gatwick Airport, stewardesses and ticket agents openly wept. Sir Freddie Laker, the swashbuckling British entrepreneur who had revolutionized transatlantic travel by slashing air fares, had abruptly announced that he was liquidating his debt-laden airline. Said one Laker counter attendant: "It's hit everyone, mate-like a smack in the mouth...
...Skytrain was so popular and profitable that in the past two years Laker, who owns 90% of the airline, borrowed $359 million to expand his fleet of DC-10s and Airbus A300s with the intention of adding new services between European and Asian capitals. Then trouble struck. Fuel prices surged, recession in the U.S. and Europe cut into passenger traffic, and the rise of the dollar's value against the pound upset Laker's balance sheet. Much of his revenue was in pounds, but he had to make debt payments in dollars...
While U.S. aviation manufacturers are running into troubles, the European Airbus, a medium-range wide-bodied jet that flies about 250 passengers and is built by a consortium of four governments, continues to make inroads. Airbus Industrie has passed both McDonnell Douglas and Lockheed to become the second largest seller of commercial jets in the world. A total of 320 of the wide-bodied airliners have been sold since 1974. The consortium is also planning a plane for the highly competitive 150-seat market. One interested prospect: Atlanta-based Delta, currently the most profitable U.S. carrier. America's once...