Airbus seeks British launch aid

Published 9:00 pm Sunday, August 21, 2005

The Times of London reports that Airbus officials are pushing the British government to approve roughly $682 million worth of launch aid for the A350 — that plane Airbus doesn’t need launch aid for.

The Blair Cabinet is caught between the nacelle and the fan on this one. Approve launch aid and Britain is sure to hack off its closest ally (that being us over here on this side of the pond). But on the other hand …

Key Quote: “Airbus UK argues that Britain risks losing work on the A350’s wings to Germany or Spain if no support comes from the British Government.”

Here’s the link: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9067-1744696,00.html

And in related A350 business, Airbus has quietly pushed back its target date for making a launch decision on the jet by a couple of weeks. The euro jet builders in June pushed back the launch decision until September, but last week, a spokesman told Bloomberg News that the decision won’t come until October.

Here’s another link to that Bloomberg story, which I posted last week. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=a01KIHLnKWT4&refer=europe I totally missed the reference to the October launch date the first time I read it, but a sharp-eyed FOB (friend of blog) pointed it out.