Company Watch - Airbus

Mar 12, 2007

Airbus Woes Cut EADS Profit Losses at planemaker Airbus slashed operating profits at Franco-German parent EADS by 86 percent to EUR399 million euros (USD$525 million) in 2006, but the fall was cushioned by profits in defence, the group said on Friday. Mar 9, 2007

Airbus won its first order for the A350 XWB, a mid-sized plane intended to compete with the Boeing 787. Finnair said it will convert its nine orders for the previous version of the A350 to the new version and order two more. Mar 9, 2007

Airbus opened its second North American engineering center in Mobile. The facility is performing interior design and definition work for the A350 XWB. Current employment is 32 and is expected to exceed 80 by year end. Mar 6, 2007

New plane orders for European jetmaker Airbus fell to a five month low of seven aircraft in February, monthly figures showed on Tuesday. Mar 6, 2007

Despite delay problems with the new A380 aircraft, the single-aisle family A320 is keeping Airbus competitive, with production increasing 60% in the last two years. In order to keep up production goals and fulfill backlog, the company must resolve possible raw material shortages before they become a problem. Mar 5, 2007

French Finance Minister Thierry Breton said on Sunday a restructuring plan unveiled by Airbus was vital to its future success. Mar 5, 2007

The French government, goaded by presidential candidates into responding to massive job cuts at Airbus, said on Monday it was ready to pump

cash into the ailing planemaker and shake up a Franco-German power-sharing pact. Mar 5, 2007

Thousands of Airbus workers went on strike at its French factories on Tuesday, protesting against the European planemaker's restructuring plan that has dominated France's presidential election campaign. Mar 5, 2007

China gains from aircraft manufacturers' competition Airbus and Boeing have established manufacturing plants in China as part of an effort to win orders from Chinese carriers. "China is the fastest-growing aircraft market in the world by far," said Neil Sims, a project manager who oversees work at the Xi'an Aircraft factory for Airbus. "The Chinese have said to us, 'Give us some of your technology, and we guarantee we will purchase some of your aircraft.' We have to get our share of the cake." Mar 9, 2007

Airbus parent EADS reported operating profits were down 86% for 2006 to $525 million. Profits in the EADS defense group helped offset losses related to aircraft production and development problems. The company's net profit for the year fell 94% to $130.2 million. Mar 9, 2007

Boeing topped Airbus in new plane orders in 2006 for the first time since 2000, helped by continued strong demand for its smallest model, the single-aisle 737. Despite strong sales currently, analysts expect Boeing with its 737 and Airbus with its competing A320 series to offer successors to those models some time around 2014, but Boeing chief executive McNerney said the situation remained fluid. Mar 7, 2007

CIT Aerospace placed a $200 million engine order for General Electric GEnx-1B64s to power three Boeing 787s and GE CF6-80E1s to power four Airbus A330s. The lessor will take delivery of the aircraft in 2008-13. Mar 9, 2007

Finnair To Acquire More Airbus Planes Finnair said on Thursday it had signed a deal to acquire seven Airbus wide-bodied aircraft by 2010, aiming to replace its Boeing MD-11 fleet with A340 and A330 plane. Mar 8, 2007

Finnair makes first firm commitment to A350 XWB Finnair yesterday made the first firm commitment for the new A350 XWB powered by the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB, signing a contract for 11 of the type along with a flexible mix of seven A330s and A340-300s. Mar 9, 2007

UPS terminates order for Airbus A380F. UPS on Friday said it would cancel its order for 10 Airbus freighters. The decision leaves Airbus with no orders for the freighter version of the superjumbo A380. "We lost confidence in their ability to meet those schedules," a UPS spokesman said of the company's A380F agreement with Airbus. Mar 5, 2007 03/12/2007

Editor: Aram Gesar, eMail: edit@AirGuideOnline.com For Air Transport & Travel Business Experts contact eMail: bizintel@AirGuideOnline.com

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Mar 5, 2007

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