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Further Reading

Airbus

Airbus is a leading aircraft manufacturer whose customer focus, commercial know-how, technological leadership and manufacturing efficiency have propelled it to the forefront of the industry. With revenues of over 25 billion euros in 2007, Airbus today consistently captures about half of all commercial airliner orders. The company also continues to broaden its scope and product range by applying its expertise to the military market.

Headquartered in Toulouse, France, Airbus is owned by EADS. It is a truly global enterprise of some 56,000 employees, with fully-owned subsidiaries in the United States, China, Japan and in the Middle East, spare parts centres in Hamburg, Frankfurt, Washington, Beijing and Singapore, training centers in Toulouse, Miami, Hamburg and Beijing and more than 150 field service offices around the world. Airbus also relies on industrial co-operation and partnerships with major companies all over the world, and a network of some 1,500 suppliers in 30 countries.

Through the 1960s, U.S. LCA manufacturers dominated the world market. This dominance was due in part to the commercial failure of several European large aircraft programs. In an effort to establish a successful West European aircraft program, the governments of the United Kingdom and France funded and codeveloped the Concorde Supersonic Transport (SST) program. The Concorde, while a technical success, was ultimately a financial disaster, and only 14 aircraft went into service.

In the late 1960s, the governments of France, West Germany, and the United Kingdom initiated discussions aimed at creating a West European LCA competitor for U.S. LCA producers. In December 1970, Airbus Industrie formally began operations with Aérospatiale of France and Deutsche Aerospace as the major partners. Construcciones Aeronàuticas S.A. (CASA) of Spain joined in December 1971, and British Aerospace became a partner in January 1979. The French and German partners each own 37.9 percent of the company, the United Kingdom partner owns 20 percent, and the Spanish partner owns 4.2 percent. During the 1970s, Europe's Airbus Industrie emerged to become the strongest rival of Boeing, the world's top commercial planebuilder.

Though based in Europe, Airbus had its origins in the work of an American executive, Frank Kolk of American Airlines. It was 1966; Boeing had just announced that it would build the enormous 747 airliner. This wide-body jet represented a huge leap beyond the biggest jetliners of the day: the Boeing 707 and the Douglas DC-8. Kolk took the view that the airlines needed something intermediate in size, carrying more passengers than a 707 or a DC-8 but fewer than a 747. He wanted a wide-body layout, featuring a big cabin with two aisles. But whereas those other jets had four engines, his called for only two.

In Washington, his concept for a widebody twinjet soon bumped up against federal regulations. On a number of routes, those that crossed the Rockies or flew over oceans, regulations called for a minimum of three engines to provide safety if an engine shut down in flight. Three-engine designs thus shaped the American jetliners - the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and Lockheed L-1011 - that grew out of Kolk's initiative. On other routes, a twinjet indeed could comply with the safety regulations.

In Europe, however, America's regulations did not apply. At the French firm of Sud Aviation, the chief engineer Roger Beteille took the lead in urging Europe to build Kolk's big twinjet. Such a project was too big for Sud alone to take on, and Beteille won promises of cooperation from government officials in Britain and Germany. Together they agreed to build such a plane, calling it the Airbus A-300.

The president of France, Charles de Gaulle, resented US domination of commercial aviation and was eager to build a French or European airliner that could compete with American designs. To stir interest within the United States, Airbus leaders selected an American engine, built by General Electric. This did not suit the British, who withdrew from the venture. However, British expertise soon proved essential in crafting wings for the A-300, That country's firm of Hawker Siddeley was Europe's strongest company in this area, and soon joined the program.

Airbus Industrie took shape formally late in 1970. It was a consortium, an association of corporations, working under French laws governing multinational cooperative programs that relied on government financing. The A-300 first flew in October 1972. However, during the next five years it racked up only 38 orders. In Toulouse, home of Sud, 16 unsold aircraft sat along a fence outside the plant, their tails painted white and showing no airline insignia. The A-300 won new luster during 1979, the year of an oil crisis that sharply raised the price of jet fuel. As a twinjet, it was lighter in weight and used less fuel than the tri-jet L-1011 and DC-10. Having one less engine, the A-300 also was easier to maintain and less costly to purchase.

In 1986, Airbus took a further leap with another new program, the A-330/340. This took shape as a single airplane that could accommodate either two or four engines. The A-330 was the twinjet version; it was larger than the A-300 and the Boeing 767. The A-340 was the four-engine version. Built for long range, it served transoceanic routes that covered world-spanning distances but attracted too few travelers.

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.

Airbus draws together the skills and expertise of 16 sites in France, Germany, Spain and the UK. Each site produces a complete section of the aircraft, which is then transported to the Airbus final assembly lines in Toulouse or Hamburg. Airbus' industrial network has been expanded to include a regional design office in North America, a joint venture engineering center in Russia and further engineering centres in the People's Republic of China and India. Work on the construction of the Airbus A320 Family Final Assembly Line in Tianjin has reached completion.

Airbus' modern and comprehensive product line comprises highly successful families of aircraft ranging from 107 to 525 seats: the single-aisle A320 Family (A318/A319/A320/A321), the widebody long-range A330/A340 and the all-new next generation A350 XWB Family, and the ultra long-range, double-decker A380 Family. Across all its fly-by-wire aircraft families Airbus' unique approach ensures that aircraft share the highest possible degree of commonality in airframes, on-board systems, cockpits and handling characteristics, which reduces significantly operating costs for airlines.

Furthermore, in anticipation of market growth, Airbus is extending its portfolio of freighter aircraft that will set new standards in the general and express freight market sectors. Airbus' latest addition to its family of freighter aircraft is the A330-200F - a mid-size, long-haul cargo aircraft that benefits from the excellent economics and fly-by-wire technology of the popular A330-200 airliner. In addition to new-build-freighters, Airbus has also launched the A320/A321 Family passenger-to-freighter conversion programme aimed at replacing the many ageing small freighters in service today. As well as bringing new levels of efficiency to freight operations, it will extend the service life of the A320 Family even further, and boost the fleet's residual value.

By the end of 2008 Airbus had sold over 9,100 aircraft to more than 380 customers/operators and has delivered over 5,300 aircraft since it first entered service in 1974. Dedicated to helping airlines enhance the profitability of their fleets, Airbus also delivers a wide range of customer services in all areas of support, tailored to the needs of individual operators all over the world.

Sensitive to its position as an industry leader, Airbus strives to be a truly eco-efficient enterprise. To that end Airbus is the first aeronautics company in the world to have earned the ISO 14001 environmental certification for all production sites and products for the entire life cycle. Airbus seeks to ensure that air transport continues to be an eco-efficient means of transport, delivering economic value while minimizing its environmental impact.

A320	A300
A350	A380