That was kind of Mike Bair’s response to Qantas’ decision to take an extra week to study competing bids from Boeing and Airbus.
Key Quote: “They want to take some more time. That’s fine.”
Bair was the keynote speaker at a conservation breakfast this morning. (A captain of industry speaking to the greenies? You betcha. We like our trees and fish out here.)
But while me and Mike and a couple hundred of our closest friends were having breakfast this morning, analysts were busy … analyzing … the Qantas move.
Qantas chief Geoff Dixon confirmed to Dow Jones Newswires http://sg.biz.yahoo.com/051208/15/3x41p.html what was reported yesterday — both Airbus and Boeing made 11th-hour changes to their bids, so the airline decided to take more time to study them.
Key Quote: “‘It’s a big decision and we had some late changes and discussions with the two manufacturers. So we really felt it was prudent to have another good look at the numbers,’ Dixon said, without revealing whether Qantas is favoring one aircraft maker.”
Analysts at Bank of America still think Boeing will get the lion’s share of the up-to-100-jets order, MarketWatch reported. http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B99FE246A-B0D1-4A40-B236-F5EBD0D0A062%7D&siteid=google
Key Quote: “‘Having made public its anticipated decision date in advance, the board’s subsequent delay may, in our view, represent a final opportunity to extract discounts from the manufacturer(s),’ wrote the BofA analysts. ‘This contest seems to have got closer, but we suspect that Boeing is still likely to take a significant share of it.’”
There’s been a lot of analyst speculation that Qantas may split the bid — one theory is that it will buy Boeing 777s and 787s for its mainline routes, and Airbus A350s for its new international low-fare carrier, Jetstar. (Jetstar now only serves cities in Australia and New Zealand.)
But that’s not going to happen, the Herald Sun in Melbourne reported. http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,17507750%255E664,00.html
Key Quote: “Mr Dixon later told that both bids, worth upwards of $20 billion (Australian), were close. But he indicated it would be a case of winner takes all for the successful bidder. Qantas was not contemplating a mixed Airbus-Boeing fleet.”
The Herald Sun also noted that both Boeing and Airbus have offered Qantas “substitute” planes it can use to get Jetstar’s international service started in 2007. Neither the 787 (due to enter service in 2008) or A350 will be available (2010) will be available then.
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