Matt Molnar
2007-11-24, 01:11 AM
Airbus's currency exchange troubles could multiply (http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/23/business/airbus.php)
By Nicola Clark
Published: November 23, 2007
PARIS: The steady decline of the dollar against the euro could force Airbus to slash its spending on future aircraft programs and technologies, company officials said Friday, a prospect that could push back development of a successor plane to the highly profitable A320 by several years.
"It seems clear that the narrow-body program is going to be pushed off to the side," said Nick Cunningham, an aerospace industry analyst at Evolution Securities in London, referring to the European plane maker's plans to build a new, more fuel-efficient single-aisle jet to replace the A320. He estimated that the new plane, originally expected to enter service by about 2013, might be postponed "to 2017 or later."
Thomas Enders, the Airbus chief executive, signaled the prospect of steep cuts to the R&D budget Thursday in a speech to German union representatives in Hamburg. In a discourse peppered with uncharacteristically forceful language, the normally low-key Enders said a further weakening of the dollar could have a "life-threatening" effect on the plane maker. He said the company had already "crossed the pain threshold." Read More... (http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/23/business/airbus.php)
By Nicola Clark
Published: November 23, 2007
PARIS: The steady decline of the dollar against the euro could force Airbus to slash its spending on future aircraft programs and technologies, company officials said Friday, a prospect that could push back development of a successor plane to the highly profitable A320 by several years.
"It seems clear that the narrow-body program is going to be pushed off to the side," said Nick Cunningham, an aerospace industry analyst at Evolution Securities in London, referring to the European plane maker's plans to build a new, more fuel-efficient single-aisle jet to replace the A320. He estimated that the new plane, originally expected to enter service by about 2013, might be postponed "to 2017 or later."
Thomas Enders, the Airbus chief executive, signaled the prospect of steep cuts to the R&D budget Thursday in a speech to German union representatives in Hamburg. In a discourse peppered with uncharacteristically forceful language, the normally low-key Enders said a further weakening of the dollar could have a "life-threatening" effect on the plane maker. He said the company had already "crossed the pain threshold." Read More... (http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/23/business/airbus.php)