U.S. Questions Airbus Funding
The United States has asked Germany and Britain for details of their proposed funding for the new Airbus super jumbo to see whether it complies with World Trade Organization rules, U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky said Tuesday.
Barshefsky’s comments come days after Airbus Industrie partners upped the pressure on U.S. rival Boeing Co., giving the European consortium a new, leaner corporate structure and the green light to sell the 555-seater A3XX.
Separately Tuesday, Seattle-based Boeing received a $3-billion order from EVA Airways Corp., Taiwan’s second-largest airline, which wants to buy as many as 15 777 jetliners. EVA would be the second carrier to order what will be the world’s longest-range commercial jet.
EVA is buying three of the 305-seat, 777-200X models that can fly 10,100 miles nonstop, reaching as far as Dallas from Sydney, Australia, and four of the 360-seat, 777-300X models. The airline also took options to buy as many as eight more of the new 777s, which are scheduled to enter service in late 2003.
Boeing approved production of the jetliners in February and had so far claimed only Japan Airlines Co. as a customer. The order is a victory for Boeing over Airbus, which had been trying to break into EVA’s all-Boeing fleet. The carrier is among several in Asia dusting off expansion plans as cargo and passenger traffic rebound from the region’s economic crisis.
Meanwhile, Germany, Britain and France have said they will back the proposed $12-billion A3XX project with government funds, reviving long-standing U.S. concerns about funding for the consortium.
“We have asked the German government and the government of the U.K. to provide us with the details of the financing arrangements made by those governments with respect to the [Airbus] A3XX and await their reply,” Barshefsky told reporters after an OECD ministerial conference.
“Our inquiries with respect to Airbus financing are intended to assist us in determining whether that financing comports with the EU’s WTO obligations,” Barshefsky said.
She said the U.S. had not yet made a “final decision” on whether to start a WTO dispute over planned EU government financing for the A3XX, which is seen as Airbus’ biggest threat yet to Boeing’s dominance of the commercial jet market.
Barshefsky said the Airbus question was one of the issues discussed at a bilateral meeting in Paris on Tuesday with European Union Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy but she gave no details.
A spokeswoman for the German economics ministry said it would be premature to respond to Barshefsky’s request because the government had not yet finalized its financing for the project.
