Airbus Makes Pitch for Possible U.S. Plant

[Placebo]

A pitch by European aircraft maker Airbus for a $600 million U.S. plant drew representatives from 35 states Tuesday — including at least nine with ties to archrival Boeing Co.

Officials from Washington state — where Boeing assembles 737s, 747s, 767s and 777s — were among those attending the informational session hosted by the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., parent company of Airbus.

France-based EADS, has said it plans to open a U.S. manufacturing site within a year, with hopes of building a refueling tanker to compete with the Boeing 767 for a multibillion dollar Air Force contract to replace the aging fleet of Boeing-built KC-135 tankers.

Representatives from Arizona, California, Florida, Kansas, Illinois, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Texas also attended, EADS officials said. All nine states have Boeing operations.

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[w4rma]

1. At least something will be built here in America. (nt)

[idlisambar]

3. The parts will be made by European contractors

Only the final assembly will be here most likely. What this does is give Airbus a lever with which it can capture U.S. military contracts (like the refueling tanker) -- a very big market.

[w4rma]

13. Boeing, Lockheed, and McDonnel-Douglas shouldn't expect us to protect

them while they are out working their hardest to screw us. They've outsourced most of their operations, therefore they no longer qualify as an American corporation in any way except "offically". And Airbus will soon just as American as those three.

[idlisambar]

19. I don't disagree

But subsidizing the foreign competitor is not a part of any effective solution. An effective solution would require more drastic steps, necessarily involving a firm government hand. Basically the idea would be to...

1. "strongly encourage" a phase out offshoring while...
2. ...rebuilding a network of domestic suppliers and...
3. ..."strongly encouraging" domestic airlines to purchase from domestic sources.

In other words, reverse the damage that has been done instead of giveng in to it.

[dxdem]

2. Sounds good to me.

Whichever state gets that will have verrry pleased constituents...

[Skeptic_All]

7. If I was a resident in any of the states mentioned in the article

I would not be getting my hopes up. The Airbus consortium is likely to get a hostile reception from every just about every corner of the US aerospace community. While there is no argument the aircraft Airbus produce are of high quality, there are many who firmly believe Airbus' new role as the leader of commercial aircraft manufacturing was not so much through the hard work of the company, but through the subsidies it received from it's European beneficiaries, namely the governments of France, Germany, Spain, and Great Britain. The research and developments costs for the A380 alone were substantially more than Airbus could have afforded but they nevertheless received the funding through government channels. In their heyday, Boeing, Lockheed, and McDonnel-Douglas never enjoyed such benefits when taking the huge risks they did while designing and manufacturing aviation legends such as the Boeing 747, the DC-10, and the L1011.

Airbus in the United States? Not a chance.

[idlisambar]

8. I wouldn't be so sure

The US aerospace community is only one constituency. No doubt, Airbus can count on support from an array of interests, and they can always pay lobbyists to create more supporters.

[Skeptic_All]

9. While many folks hungry for the high paying jobs offered by

the aerospace industry would leap at the chance to build whatever model Airbus suggest, the United States government is going to be footing the bill. With the current row which the United States and Europe find themselves in now regarding Airbus subsidies, I again submit you will not find Uncle Same paying for an Airbus product until these subsidies dry up. Not that this will ever happen.

[Stella_Artois]

23. Not entirely true

The US SST was subsidised to the tune of hundreds of millions in todays dollars IIRC. That was Boeing wasn't it ?

[Redstone]

12. "verrry pleased constituents..."

and a gutted treasury, if the tendency of states to whore themselves and drain taxapyers dollars to sacrifice on the holy altar of "jobs, jobs, jobs" to companies who make these pretty-sounding but empty promises is any indication.

Didn't I read somewhere that because of the tax breaks, it costs the state of Alabama about $150.00 for every Mercedes SUV that's shipped from the plant down there?

Redstone

[pa28]

4. One rumor is Paine field in Everett, WA.

That's where the 747/67/77's are built. Talk about laying down the gauntlet!

[idlisambar]

5. Not good news, our aerospace industry is toast

Airbus is taking advantage of the opening Boeing gave them with the recent refueling tanker scandal. It's sad to see our states fighting each other to subsidize a foreign aerospace company. Of course Boeing is barely an American company anyway at this point, 70% of the 787 is being made offshore.

[SoCalDem]

6. Kind of sad in a way

Maybe it's becausw they too are looking for "cheap non-union labor"..over here in "the colonies"..:(

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

14. B

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

15. I

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

16. N

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

17. G

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

18. O

[Zech Marquis]

10. wow, way to go Airbus!

that's what I like, potentiall hig tech hig paying skilled jobs :bounce:

[Rockerdem]

11. The Europeans are outsourcing to us and our non-union labor

We are competing with the 3rd world now, evidently.

[Dirk_H]

20. The main goal, EADS tries to achieve

by building plants in the US, is to open American military markets for the European aeronautics and defence giant (which btw is equally french and german owned and based, with HQ in Paris and Munich and with a french and a german CEO). EADS' strategy is to become world market leader in all fields they're engaged in. This was already achieved in the markets of civil aircrafts (Airbus), civil helicopters (Eurocopter), commercial space transportation (Arianespace) and satellites (Astrium). Less known than these predominantly civil divisions is the fact, that EADS is also one of the worlds biggest producer of arms, including the biggest producer of missiles (MBDA-EADS/LFK), military aircrafts (e.g. A400M, Eurofighter Typhoon, Tornado, Tiger attac helicopter) and military electronics (EADS DE). It is an official medium-term aim of EADS to push forward its military division and to achieve a leading role in this market. To support these efforts the head of the military division will soon become Co-CEO of EADS. These goals can only be achieved if EADS can manage to obtain contracts by the pentagon, which is by far the worlds biggest buyer of military goods. In order to become a more acceptable contractor for the DoD, EADS has recently started an PR campain in the US and announced plans to build factories.
A word about subsidies in the aircraft business: Airbus gets subsidies (via special state loans) and Boeing gets subsidies (via military budgets). Everybody in the industy knows that and both sides were content with the modus for years. In fact there is an official WTO agreement between the rivals which regulated subsidies for years and nobody complaint. But when Boeing lost ground against its rival and was finally overtaken (first technologically and then commercially), they obviously needed an excuse for this and started to complain about subsidies. It is quit obvious, that Boeings decline in the civil aircraft business is due to a lack of innovation and daringness. They did hardly develop a new aircraft for decades and were too content with their (now gone) position as monopolist.

[DemoTex]

21. Some Airbus airframe components already built here ...

There is a lot of sub-contracting for smaller components in the aircraft industry. I toured the Airbus wing fabrication facility outside of Chester, England (near Clwyd, Wales) a few years ago and was told that some wing sub-assemblies were made in Tennessee.

And then there are the avionics ...

[question everything]

22. Airbus' U.S. plans draw states

Long Beach Press Telegram

Airbus' U.S. plans draw states

Officials from 35, including 9 with Boeing ties, at pitch for plant.
By Matthew Daly
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — A pitch by European aircraft maker Airbus for a $600 million U.S. plant drew representatives from 35 states Tuesday including at least nine with ties to archrival Boeing Co. Officials from Washington state where Boeing assembles 737s, 747s, 767s and 777s were among those attending the informational session hosted by the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., parent company of Airbus.

France-based EADS has said it plans to select a U.S. manufacturing site within a year, with hopes of building a refueling tanker to compete with the Boeing 767 for a multibillion-dollar Air Force contract to replace the aging fleet of Boeing-built KC-135 tankers.

Representatives from Arizona, California, Florida, Kansas, Illinois, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Texas also attended, EADS officials said. All nine states have Boeing operations. Other states interested in the Airbus plant include North Carolina, Mississippi, Oklahoma and New Mexico, according to EADS officials.

Congress last year nullified a potential $23 billion deal with Boeing amid a growing ethics scandal that has led to guilty pleas by two top Boeing executives. The Pentagon is expected to reopen the deal to competition later this year.

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http://www.presstelegram.com/Stories/0,1413,204~21478~2713073,00.html#