EADS/Northrop tanker bid in the offing

That’s what CBS MarketWatch says this morning. According to the online service, the two companies will conclude their studies of a joint A330 tanker project by the end of the week, and could announce their decision within days.

Key Quote: “‘I think we’re going to make a decision this week whether or not we actually pursue the program,’ said Wendell Bugg, a spokesman for (Northrop-Gruman). ‘At this point, all the data is in, and we’re going to bring it to a conclusion.’”

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7BCCD847AA-E773-4BA3-AED3-4686612F893D%7D

This, of course, underscores what analyst Richard Aboulafia told me last week, that one of the top priorities for new Boeing chief Jim McNerney is getting Congress and the Pentagon onboard with Boeing’s tanker plan. Richard was one of several people I talked with in connection to this story, which ran in The Herald Sunday:

http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/05/07/10/100loc_mcnerney001.cfm

Key Quote there, from Aboulafia: “They keep buying a month here and a month there, but if there’s not a (tanker) contract until 2008, that doesn’t matter much.”