Good news, bad news

How nice to see the 787 Dreamliner finally take to the skies, two years late but carrying the fortunes of Boeing with it. No airframe manufacturer seems immune from programme development delays, of course, so it was also good to finally see the Airbus A400M also make its debut recently.

In fact December has seen other good news. United's order for a mixed bag of A350s and 787s makes perfect sense. Splitting the order keeps the suppliers on their toes, and proves the point that scale economies of aircraft operation evaporate at some point as fleet size increases. All this is balanced, needless to say, with an announcement from that customary purveyor of dismal news, IATA. We are told (yet again) that the industry will lose US$11bn in 2009, and that things will be only slightly better in 2010, with a forecast loss of US$5.6bn. Talk about rubbing it in.... And how could we possibly enjoy Christmas without a strike? We can look forward to more than the usual chaos at UK airports as British Airways braces itself for a stoppage of 12 500 cabin crew from 22 December until 2 January.

On that note, I wish all readers a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Got to pick a pocket or two....

The long running spat between the US and EU over government subsidies to Boeing and Airbus looks ready to come to the boil yet again. Reports have emerged suggesting that the World Trade Organisation has informally declared Airbus as being the illegal recipient of billions of dollars of financial aid. The accusation is that preferential government loans amounted to an illegal subsidy. As a counterpunch, the WTO will doubtless be investigating Boeing subsidies. There is nothing particularly new in the accusations, which have been going on for many years. What makes the saga interesting is speculation on the possible dramatic effect on both Airbus and Boeing if money has to be repaid. Airbus is already unashamedly seeking European government aid to help launch the A350. I wonder whether the WTO has the temerity to impose sanctions that would have a material effect on the ability of the two major manufacturers to conduct their business?

On a smaller scale, a collection of current and former Airbus senior executives have been publicly named as having benefitted financially from the sale of shares immediately prior to the first announcement of A380 development delays. The final ruling on penalties is still some way off, but French investigators are recommending fines that run into millions of dollars.

"I can raise no money by vile means," said Shakespeare.