The Farnborough Air Show typically showcases state-of-the-art jet airplanes, but I expect there will be enough heated words exchanged next week to float a whole fleet of hot-air balloons.
In the weeks leading up to the international air fair outside London, the Airbus’s top people have been making public statements suggesting that the Boeing Co. is going too far, too fast with its use of composites on the Dreamliner.
Meanwhile on this side of the Atlantic, Boeing’s Harry Stonecipher continues to bang away with complaints about the subsidies Airbus is from European governments.
Look for more of the same from Farnborough.
Stonecipher’s complaints about Airbus subsidies have received big play in Great Britain. The Times of London, the Financial Times newspaper and The Economist all have published stories in the past week talking about Stonecipher’s get-tough stance, and of how the Bush administration’s European trade representatives have relied Washington’s interest in the issue.
Boeing and its supporters say Airbus no longer needs the kinds of government support it got as a start-up concern 30 years ago.
“The argument is not without merit,” according to the Financial Times. “Never has Airbus seemed less in need of taxpayer support.”
But at the same time, the paper said, “Boeing is in no position to cast stones. It recently secured huge subsidies from Washington state for production of its new 7E7 aircraft … In addition, the city of Chicago has paid the company a small fortune to move its headquarters there.”
Stonecipher himself won’t be in Farnborough, The Times reported. “This will disappoint Farnborough watchers, who remember several memorable air-show displays from the straight-talking Tennessee native. This year was building up to be a belter.”
Airbus has been bashing back.
At an industry conference last month, some of the consortium’s top engineers ridiculed the amount of composites Boeing is using on the Dreamliner.
“We do not apply a material because it is trendy,” Jurgen Klenner, Airbus’ senior vice president of structure engineering. “We do it when we are convinced it is mature enough. There are crucial questions that have not yet been answered.”
Klenner said that composites are no more than “black aluminum,” the Daily Post of Cheshire reported. The fiberglass-like material has the same attributes as aluminum, but at five times the cost, Klenner said.
The paper said unnamed Airbus officials “accused Boeing of tinkering with the 7E7’s supposedly advanced technology during its development, saying the final product will be more conventional and heavier than originally claimed.”
However, Airbus itself has weight issues to deal with on its new airplane. It acknowledged last week that the A380 was 14 metric tons (roughly 30,900 pounds) heavier than originally planned.
Weight is an issue, of course, because it affects fuel efficiency – it simply takes more energy to push a heavy object up into the air.
An Airbus spokeswoman told the Associated Press that the plane still will meet all its performance guarantees.
Is Boeing going to announce big orders at the air show? Maybe. Different reports from around the globe say Boeing is close to inking Dreamliner deals with Singapore International Airlines, Emirates and Japan Airlines.
Officially the company says it doesn’t save up orders to announce at the shows – unless that’s what its customers want.
Reporter Bryan Corliss: 425-339-3454 or corliss@heraldnet.com.
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