Mexican Carrier to Buy as Many as 50 Airbus Jets : Airlines: The European airplane maker says Mexicana Airlines, a longtime Boeing customer, defected because Airbus can deliver a new model a year earlier.
Mexicana Airlines, a longtime customer of Boeing Co., announced Monday that it has agreed to purchase as many as 50 jetliners from European competitor Airbus Industrie. The deal, including options, could be worth as much as $2 billion.
Airbus and Mexicana also announced plans to create a joint venture in Mexico to provide training and maintenance for airlines with Latin American routes.
“This contract was of utmost importance to us because Mexicana is the major airline in Latin America, based on number of passengers,” said Stuart E. Iddles, senior vice president of Airbus. “This could influence other Latin American companies that plan to buy airplanes and have not yet made a decision.”
Airbus, a consortium of French, British, West German and Spanish state-owned companies, ranks second only to Seattle-based Boeing in sales of commercial aircraft. Along with deliveries to European airlines, the company has sold 100 planes to Northwest Airlines and 38 to Air Canada. But previously it had failed to receive any significant orders from Latin American airlines.
Monday’s deal fits in with Mexicana’s announced strategy to develop an airline maintenance subsidiary serving other airlines.
The announcement also came at a propitious time for Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, who has been criticized by other Latin American officials for seeking a free trade agreement with the United States.
“This proves that a closer relationship with one country does not mean distancing ourselves from other nations, particularly those of Latin America,” said Salinas, who attended Monday’s signing of the $1.1-billion contract for the first 30 airplanes.
Airbus received the order in part because it can deliver the first 16 of the 150-passenger A320s next year, said Mexicana Chairman Carlos Abedrop. Boeing could not have begun delivery of the comparable 757 model until 1992, he said.
Boeing officials could not be reached for comment. However, Chairman Frank Shronz has said that achieving higher production rates on three jet programs, including the 757, is a key challenge for the company. Boeing has been swamped with orders in recent years, and at the end of 1989 it carried a backlog of $77.5 billion in commercial aircraft.
Mexicana is committed to buying 16 planes with options on another 14. The company also negotiated options to buy 20 more for $733 million if Airbus is able to meet Mexicana’s delivery schedule. Spare parts will increase the total by about 15%, said Iddles.
Airbus has contacted the export-import banks of its member European countries about providing favorable financing terms, Iddles said.
Exact terms of the proposed maintenance and training joint venture are still being discussed, according to Iddles and Abedrop. In the plan under discussion, Airbus would provide the training and equipment, and Mexicana would provide the manpower and location, possibly an under-used service center that it owns in Guadalajara, in central western Mexico.
Abedrop left open the possibility that Mexicana will turn to Boeing again in the next three months when the company awards the contract for long-distance planes to supplement its six McDonnell Douglas DC-10s. However, he added, Airbus also is negotiating hard for that contract.
Mexicana, which the government sold to private investors eight months ago, is in the process of modernizing and expanding its 48-jet fleet, which includes 37 Boeing 727s. The company plans to buy 82 airplanes over the next 10 years.
