EADS / Airbus problems as shareholders cash in their chips?

French German Airbus manufacturer European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) has had 6 significant items to ponder this week.

1. They have been edged out of the Thales / Alcatel alliance in consolidating French space technology industries.Alcatel website.

2. At the same time, two of the main shareholders in EADS, DaimlerChrysler autos and Lagardere publishing, said that they would reduce their holdings.Both selling 7.5% shareholdings.

3. Today BAe who have been partners since 1978 announced they want to sell their 20% stake as discussed here recently.BBC Online.

4. The A350, its rival to Boeing's 787 Dreamliner is meeting criticism recent industry reports suggest the A350's intended fuel efficiency is so poor it needs a complete redesign. Meanwhile, provisional orders are being put on hold and estimates of sales drastically scaled back.

Singapore Airlines CEO Chew Choon Seng said in an interview today (7/4//2006) in Zurich, "Having gone to the trouble of designing a new tail, and introducing a lot of new composites, and everything else, they might as well go the whole way and design a whole new fuselage as well instead of using something old." Chew said his airline will decide on whether to buy as many as 80 new aircraft at a board meeting next month.

"We still have an open mind," Chew said today.

Steven Udvar-Hazy, CEO of International Lease Finance Corp., the world's largest aircraft lessor said in March should spend $8 billion to $10 billion more to redesign its A350 airliner to compete with Boeing's 787.he says they need to decide on needs to decide on a redesign before the Farnborough, England, air show in July.

5. Only last week, Emirates delayed a $4.2bn order for 20 Airbus large jets, the A340-600, to give Airbus time to develop a better version.

6. Testing the wings of the A380 to destruction has shown that the wing fails within 95% of the US FAA 1.5 wing loading limit - although the results are still not clear they could dig their heels in and refuse landings in the US. Airbus executive vice president of engineering Alain Garcia deemed the test a success, and was quoted as saying, "This is within 3 percent of the 1.5 target, which shows the accuracy of the finite element model." The wing was deflected more than 24 ft/7.4m when the break occurred. (remeber the banning of Concorde supersonic overflights in the US ?). ( Emergency evacuation trials passed with flying colours however)

BAE chief executive Mike Turner , who acquired United Defense Industries, the US maker of Bradley armored personnel carriers, for $3.97 billion dollars, in March last year said: "We believe that now is the right time for us to divest our Airbus shareholding to allow us to concentrate on our core transatlantic defense and aerospace strategy." BAE won orders worth US$ 1.13 Bn. from the US Army to re-manufacture and upgrade more than 500 Bradley combat vehicles in June 2005.

Airbus booked record firm orders exceeding 1,000 passenger planes in 2005, taking 51.0 percent of the world market and beating arch-rival Boeing for the fifth year running.

All this is excellent news for Boeing , for two reasons...

1. It puts BAe into play for a take over by Boeing or other US defence companies.(Remember BAe are not part of the Euro consortium developing the Combat Unmanned Aerial vehicle CUAV nEUROne)

2. It makes life more difficult for Airbus who have been causing them lots of problems in the last few years.

Boeing will however maintain their PR assault ...



On June 13th 2005 Ambassador Linnet Deily, U.S. Representative to the WTO complained ...

"Over its 35-year history, Airbus has benefited from massive amounts of EU member State and EC subsidies that have enabled the company to create a full product line of aircraft and gain more than a 50 percent share of large civil aircraft sales. Every major Airbus aircraft model was financed, in whole or in part, with government subsidies taking the form of "launch aid" – that is, financing with no or low rates of interest, and repayment tied to, and entirely dependent on, sales of the financed aircraft. Moreover, if a particular model does not sell well, Airbus does not have to repay the financing. The Airbus A380 “super jumbo” alone received approximately $3.7 billion in launch aid subsidies from France, Germany, Spain, and the UK."

Also BBC report about N Wales subsidies for training.

The UK share of the A380 launch was £780m, of which £530m went direct to BAE. So if BAe sell up that is UK taxpayers investment thrown away. EADS’ shares have enjoyed a more than fivefold increase from the low of €6.50 in March 2003 to a peak two weeks ago of €35.13. As one BBC radio commentator said on the World News last night, "BAe are taking the money and running".

Wouldn't it be a surprise that a la Kuwait buying BP when it went public , Dubai financiers leapt in to take up BAe's share ?

Pic Iran Air use Airbus - not for nuclear bombing however. The Shah of course bought Boeing...and so have El Al...so far!