Tag: Airbus

The EU's next seven-year budget – and its R&D component – is an opportunity to provide a platform for growth and to determine where we see ourselves in a new world order, writes Tom Enders.

Europe's two biggest aerospace companies will go back to the drawing board to find new strategies after Germany stymied the world's biggest arms and aviation company merger.

American aircraft manufacturer Boeing is still getting US subsidies despite Washington's claim to have stopped the handouts, the European Union said yesterday (25 September) in the latest round of the world's biggest trade dispute.

In the biggest shake-up in Europe's aerospace and defence sector in more than a decade, Britain's BAE Systems and Airbus-owner EADS said they are in advanced talks to create an industry giant that would overtake rival Boeing in sales and contend with defence cutbacks in Europe and the United States.

A Chinese diplomat said yesterday (8 March) Beijing is keen to avoid a trade conflict with Europe after Airbus accused the country of blocking purchases of its aircraft in retaliation for the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS).

Trade judges on Wednesday (18 May) partially overturned a ruling that had accused EU states of giving Airbus illegal subsidies, but said the aircraft maker did receive billions of dollars of unfair aid that harmed Boeing.

World Trade Organisation judges gave the European Union a stinging rebuke on Wednesday (30 June), saying the EU must axe prohibited export subsidies to plane-maker Airbus which had injured US rival Boeing.

The World Trade Organisation on Friday (4 September) issued a 1,000-plus page ruling on whether subsidies the EU gave to Airbus were illegal, although the findings will not officially be made public for months. A ruling on US subsidies to Boeing is due in six months' time.

European aircraft manufacturer Airbus has lost $27 billion in revenues over the past three years, due to the United States' payment of "lavish" illegal subsidies to its own planemaker Boeing, EU lawyers have told the World Trade Organization.

The parent of planemaker Airbus, EADS (European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company), will rid itself of a complex dual-management structure, initially aimed at placating Franco-German interests, but blamed for years of political infighting and for putting an expected 5 billion euro hole in the company's earnings.

European planemaker Airbus has announced plans to shed 10,000 jobs in France, Germany, Britain and Spain, in an attempt to stay in the race with its US rival Boeing, sparking actions from labour unions across Europe.

As the EU and the US prepare for their biggest-ever battle in the WTO, Boeing plays down the effect that the dispute could have on transatlantic relations but stresses the need for both parties to focus on a negotiated settlement.

European businesses are striving to seize a greater share of the world’s fourth-largest economy, against fierce competition from the US.

The Commission has swiftly responded to the US decision to bring the EU to the WTO on Airbus subsidies. The Commission has decided to countersue the US and is ready for "the biggest, most difficult and costly legal dispute in the WTO’s history," said the EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson.

A Commission communication sets out to end remaining non-tariff trade barriers in the €600 billion EU-US trade relationship. Trade Commissioner Mandelson hopes to reach an understanding in the Airbus-Boeing row.  

EU-US relations have been on a somewhat bumpy ride in recent years with disagreements over issues ranging from the Iraq-war to the Kyoto Treaty and the International Criminal Court. These matters, however, are only a small part of an otherwise well functioning US-EU relationship. After the re-election of President George W. Bush in November 2004 there has been a sustained effort on both sides of the Atlantic to get relations back on track. During the European tour of President Bush in February 2005, which included a first ever visit to EU institutions in Brussels, it became clear that both parties had decided to overcome the previous animosity.  This was further underlined by the international conference on Iraq on 22 June in Brussels, which was co-hosted by the US and the EU. 

The world's largest passenger plane ever, the double-decker Airbus A380 is "a success of the European industrial policy”, according to French President Jacques Chirac.

EU wants to close the files of competing Airbus and Boeing unfair trade cases filed in the WTO.

A new trade conflict is about to kick off between the EU and the US as the two sides have failed to reach agreement on subsidies to Airbus.

Eight European countries have signed an agreement with Airbus to buy 196 new A400M military aircraft in a boost to the EU's common defence and security policy. The deal marks the largest joint venture in Europe's defence industry and is seen as a cornerstone of the EU's plans to develop a rapid reaction force.