Airbus: U.S. Plane Makers ‘Subsidized’
Europe’s Airbus consortium has launched a counteroffensive against U.S. charges that it is unfairly subsidized, claiming that rival American aircraft makers get billions from Washington.
Industry sources said Monday that in a document sent to the U.S. and European governments, Airbus said Seattle-based Boeing Co. and McDonnell Douglas Corp. of St. Louis have received more than $23 billion in subsidy-type support in the past 10 years.
The Airbus document, which took more than two years to research, claims that without those subsidies neither firm would have made a profit and that both might have gone out of business, the sources said.
U.S. demands that European governments stop aiding Airbus have been a longstanding sore point in trade relations. Airbus has received about $7 billion in government funds.
Airbus estimates that Boeing got $10.8 billion from the U.S. government between 1978 and 1987, while McDonnell Douglas got nearly $12.4 billion. Boeing’s profits over that decade were $4.6 billion, while McDonnell Douglas earned $2.4 billion, according to Airbus.
Industry sources said the Airbus document says the two firms got $11.2 billion in Defense Department research and development contracts for aircraft, electronics and communications equipment.
In addition, they received $4.9 billion in tax relief and credits, $4.5 billion in Defense Department profit subsidies and $2.7 billion in funding or support from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
No Shouting Match
Industry sources said the figures exclude such additional benefits as some free use of NASA research facilities.
“I don’t think we want to get involved in a public shouting match,” said a McDonnell Douglas spokesman in London after he was asked about the charges made by Airbus.
“They seem to be taking our military sales and saying they are a subsidy. . . . It’s difficult to see how that can be described as a subsidy,” he added.
A Boeing spokesman also firmly rejected the Airbus analysis.
“You cannot talk about subsidies, it’s a dirty word. . . . We formally reject all such charges,” he said. “It’s ridiculous to talk of subsidies, and all government contracts are strictly supervised by Congress.”
Industry sources said Airbus listed spinoffs for the U.S. civilian aircraft industry from military and NASA funding.
They said NASA programs had contributed to the development of such features as stabilizers for the Boeing 737, sound absorption material research benefiting the Boeing 757, 767 and McDonnell Douglas MD-80, and composites for the Boeing 757 and 767.
Airbus claims that U.S. defense contractors have high profit margins on sales of military aircraft to the U.S. government, benefiting their overall financing.
Airbus is 38% owned by Messerschmitt-Boelkow-Blohm GmbH of West Germany, 38% by Aerospatiale of France, 20% by British Aerospace PLC and 4% by CASA of Spain.
