A350 subsidies back in the news

Published 9:00 pm Monday, September 5, 2005

Europe came back to work today, after the traditional August holidays, and the Boeing-Airbus subsidy fight is bound to heat up as a result, Flight International reports. http://www.flightinternational.com/Articles/2005/09/06/Navigation/185/201400/Airbus-Boeing+subsidies+battle+ready+to+resume.html

Key Quote: “The US side believes Airbus wants the European governments to commit to A350 launch aid before 6 October, the first anniversary of the US withdrawal from the 1992 agreement on subsidies for large commercial aircraft. The sources suspect the EU believes this will insulate the launch aid from a WTO ruling, but they say the USA will not accept this argument because it terminated the agreement for non-compliance, and did not have to give a year’s notice of withdrawal.”

In the meantime, Financial Times from London outlines the issues facing the British government — subsidize A350 wing development or risk losing the last vestige of the nation’s aerospace industry to Germany or Spain. http://news.ft.com/cms/s/0bb0745e-1e72-11da-a470-00000e2511c8.html

Key Quote: “In the overall subsidy war between Boeing and Airbus, the difficult job of allocating blame on one side or the other should be left to the WTO panel. But it will make the panel’s task no easier if a new subsidy row flares up over the A350…”