|
Airbus notches A3XX order
|
 |
June 5, 2000: 6:57 a.m. ET
International Lease Finance interested in super-jumbo; decision on project imminent
|
LONDON (CNNfn) - Airbus Industrie announced another customer for its proposed A3XX "super-jumbo" project Monday, taking the aerospace consortium to within reach of the five or six launch buyers it said it needs to get the project off the ground.
International Lease Finance Corp. announced its interest in acquiring five of the proposed 555-seat aircraft, which would be the largest passenger plane to go into commercial service. Neither party indicated a likely price for the planes. Other firms to have expressed an interest in the A3XX include Air France, Singapore Airlines and Emirates.
Airbus Industrie's board is due to vote later this week on whether to proceed with the super-jumbo concept. The ambitious program has been derided by some critics as uneconomic, and is likely to cost $12 billion. A meeting to decide on the project was delayed from late May, amid reports that some of the firm's main shareholders were not happy with the cost of the project.
Airbus Industrie is majority-owned by Aérospatiale Matra (PARO), DaimlerChrysler Aerospace and Spain's Casa. The three firms are merging to form European Aeronautic, Defense & Space Co. (EADS), which will be Europe's largest defense and aerospace firm. U.K. defense and aerospace company BAE Systems (BA-) is Airbus's remaining shareholder, with 20 percent.
The A3XX is a direct challenge to the 747 airliner range manufactured by the European firm's arch rival, Seattle-based Boeing (BA: Research, Estimates). The A3XX would have some 150 more seats than the 747, and should go into service around 2005. The 747 has been flying with airlines across the globe for 30 years.
Boeing has said it sees no need for a larger aircraft, but could remodel the 747 to accommodate more passengers if demand required it. 
-- from staff and wire reports
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
