Transportation Industry

Company Watch - Airbus

AirGuide Business, Sept 8, 2008

Sep 7, 2008

Airbus and Syrian Arab Airlines have had "exploratory discussions" about a potential order for more than 50 aircraft valued at as much as $35 billion, a French official told the Financial Times. There had been recent speculation that French President Nicolas Sarkozy's visit this week to Damascus for talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would include announcement of a blockbuster aircraft order. But Airbus has denied the deal, which would be complicated by the fact that its aircraft contain parts manufactured by companies in the US, which imposed sanctions on sales to Syria in 2004. The FT quoted a "senior French official" as saying that discussions have taken place and that "the position of the US" is a key element of the talks. Sep 5, 2008

Airbus parent EADS will invest [euro]180 million ($263.5 million) to build a new plant in Augsburg that will manufacture fuselage parts for the A350, the Associated Press reported. The facility will open in 2011 adjacent to the current Airbus factory. Sep 3, 2008

London Heathrow airport will be able to handle more Airbus A380s as a result of the wake separation reduction promulgated by the UK Civil Aviation Authority, says the airport's air traffic service provider, NATS. Heathrow operator BAA says the new criteria are already being used by controllers. At present, NATS says, there are so few A380 movements at Heathrow that the new reduced separation criteria do not make any difference, and the existing movements by Singapore Airlines and Emirates do not take place during peak movement periods, so separation is not yet an issue. Sep 1, 2008

CIT Aerospace exercised options for eight Airbus A320s and two A319s, lifting its firm Airbus commitment to 199 aircraft (162 A320 family, 30 A330s, seven A350s), of which 100 already have been delivered. Delivery of the newly ordered aircraft, worth approximately $756 million at list prices, is scheduled to begin in 2012. Sep 5, 2008

CIT Group today announced that it has exercised options with Airbus for 10 new aircraft worth approximately $756 million at list prices. The order, made on behalf of CIT Aerospace, a unit of CIT, includes eight A320s and two A319s aircraft. The aircraft are scheduled to begin delivery in 2012. CIT owns or manages a fleet of more than 300 commercial aircraft. Since 2000, CIT has taken delivery of 100 Airbus aircraft, and including the purchase announced today, has 99 currently on order (162 A320 Family aircraft, 30 A330s and seven A350 XWBs). Sep 4, 2008

Gulf Air also announced a firm order for 35 single aisle and widebody aircraft from Airbus in May. That deal was worth around USD$4.5 billion at list prices. Gulf Air is owned by Bahrain Mumtalakat Holdings, a USD$10 billion state-owned investment agency. Gulf Air last year reduced its network and cuts its work force by about 25 percent, or some 1,500 jobs, after announcing losses of more than USD$1 million a day. Sep 4, 2008

Kingfisher Airlines aims to sell some of the five Airbus A340-500s it has on order, but wants to keep at least two so it can launch ultra-long-haul services from Bangalore to San Francisco. The carrier's executive vice-president, Hitesh Patel, says all five A340-500s are to be delivered in October and it is working to sell two or three. Patel says Kingfisher experienced difficulties raising financing for the A340-500s, but that issue has been resolved. "With the price of fuel... we felt it was in our best interests to hold onto [just] a couple of the A340s," rather than five, he says. Kingfisher was due by the end of August to have taken delivery of four of the five A330s it has on order. Sep 2, 2008

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