World Business Briefing | Europe: France: Possible State Aid for Airbus
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The government, goaded by presidential candidates into responding to large job cuts at the airplane maker Airbus, said it was ready to pump cash into the company and shake up a Franco-German power-sharing pact. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin also called on the parent of Airbus, the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company, to abandon paying a dividend this year to its shareholders, which include the French government, after announcing plans to cut 10,000 jobs. Some 4,300 of those jobs are in France. Mr. Villepin, above, said the government stood ready to participate if the holding company decided to tap its shareholders for more cash through a capital increase to shore up a company badly hit by delays to the new Airbus A380 superjumbo airliner. âThe state will play its role,â he said. However, EADSâs biggest private shareholder, the German car company DaimlerChrysler, has battled for years to prevent what it regards as state meddling.
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A top Boeing Co. official said on  Friday he was optimistic the European Union would agree to end  government aid to develop new aircraft, which has helped its  chief rival Airbus grab more than half of the civil aircraft  market.
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Ireland&#39;s state-owned carrier, Aer Lingus, has asked the government for a grant worth euro200 million to euro300 million (US$250 million to US$375 million) to begin buying 10 or more long-haul aircraft from either Boeing or Airbus.
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The French prime minister defended thousands of job cuts at Airbus on Thursday, but protests over the losses at the planemaker silenced three German plants in a backlash that could threaten recovery hopes.
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France, Germany and Russia will form a working group to study Moscow's role in EADS, the company that runs Airbus, Russia's president said Saturday.Comment
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A French shareholder association said on  Monday it had filed a class-action lawsuit over the recent  share collapse of EADS . The suit was filed in the  Netherlands, where the Airbus parent group is registered.
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The crisis at Airbus is to feature in a top-level Franco-German meeting in Paris this week amid a blur of uncertainty over cuts to pull the flagship A380 superjumbo out of trouble.
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The European Union's head office said Thursday member state Italy could find itself in the middle of a trans-Atlantic Boeing-Airbus dispute because of a state-owned company's involvement with the U.S. aircraft producer.
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French President Nicolas Sarkozy meets German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday to try to agree on who will run the troubled European aerospace group EADS, which manufactures Airbus.
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The French government plans to merge Airbus parent EADS with defense company Thales to create a new European giant to rival Boeing Co.
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Rumours of a possible tie-up between French defence electronics group Thales and the European Aeronautic, Defence and Space Company (EADS) are to be discussed by the German and French economy ministers later this week, a German government spokesman said.
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Air France said Monday it is considering a tie-up with Spanish carrier Iberia among other options.
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The European Union says if Washington will reduce aid to the Boeing Co., it&#39;s willing to accept cuts in subsidies for Airbus Industries.
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European aircraft maker Airbus could sell some its sites under the vast restructuring plans scheduled to be announced later this month, Airbus chief and co-chairman of EADS, Louis Gallois, has said.
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Reported plans for a tie-up linking the European Aeronautic, Defence and Space Company (EADS) and French electronics group Thales, currently a point of contention between France and Germany, would enable the ...
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France's prime minister defended thousands of job cuts at European planemaker Airbus on Thursday, but unions threatened to vent their anger during upcoming French elections while factory stoppages spread in ...Comment
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European aircraft manufacturer Airbus SAS said Wednesday it still expects to receive government launch aid for its new A350 jet, a day after the EU and United States agreed to reopen negotiations on eliminating aircraft subsidies, averting a looming trade war.