Europe earns wings at expense of U.S

Insight on the News, Feb 4, 2003 by Jamie Dettmer

Europe now stands on the brink of selling more commercial aircraft than the United States. After several years of increasing market share, Airbus, a government-subsidized subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defense & Space Co., has a commanding lead in sales over Boeing Corp. By the end of last year Airbus had an order backlog of 1,470 planes, compared with Boeing's 1,152. In 2002, Boeing sold 176 aircraft while Airbus landed 189 orders.

Airbus has major investment plans to improve delivery of parts to its Toulouse, France, assembly center, including building a 145-mile land route from Bordeaux, partly by widening roads and constructing new bridges. That will help it speedily to deliver huge fuselage sections and wings to the assembly lines.

Airbus says it is committed to building its 550-seat superjumbo jet, the A380, at a development cost of more than $10 billion. Says Jeffrey Lenorovitz, an aircraft consultant, Airbus is doing better than Boeing because "it offers airlines precisely what they want--economy and flexibility."

JAMIE DETTMER IN LONDON AND ROME