Some Airbus factories for sale

PARIS – The European aerospace group EADS would consider selling some Airbus factories provided that new owners could reduce operating costs, EADS co-chairman Manfred Bischoff said on Friday.

Bischoff, told the International Herald Tribune newspaper that EADS would be open to selling factories but only if the buyers could operate them, as sub-contractors, more cheaply than Airbus. Commenting on the crisis and uncertainty wrecking Airbus and its parent company the European Aeronautics Defence and Space Company, he said in an interview: “If it’s only changing hands for the sake of ownership, it’s not worthwhile.”Commenting on criticism, notably from financial analysts, that the problems at Airbus arise largely from political interference to defend the national interests of partners and industrial jobs, Bischoff commented that two big private shareholders, the German auto group DaimlerChrysler and Lagardere Group of France, did not necessarily accept such pressures.He said: “There is no reason to assume that DaimlerChrysler or Lagardere Group want to make sacrifices on the altar of national feelings.”On Wednesday, Airbus denied a report in German newspaper Bild, quoting well-informed sources, that the company wanted to sell five factories in Germany employing 6 600 people.The report said that Airbus wanted to sell the factories as quickly as it could to investors who would continue to operate them as suppliers to Airbus but at reduced operating costs.Employees would keep their jobs but their pay would fall.However, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after a meeting on Thursday that the effort of restructuring in the group should be spread evenly between France and Germany.EADS has announced severe cost-saving targets to pull Airbus out of a crisis arising from delays of about two years in deliveries of its star product, the A380 superjumbo airliner.However, the company has acknowledged that it faces several other problems, notably in the way it is organised.In the space of two weeks, the man brought in to sort the company out, Christian Streiff, presented the results of an internal audit, laid down objectives and outlined a plan to achieve them; but he then resigned after only 100 days in the job to be replaced by Louis Gallois, co-chief executive at EADS.Nampa-AFPCommenting on the crisis and uncertainty wrecking Airbus and its parent company the European Aeronautics Defence and Space Company, he said in an interview: “If it’s only changing hands for the sake of ownership, it’s not worthwhile.”Commenting on criticism, notably from financial analysts, that the problems at Airbus arise largely from political interference to defend the national interests of partners and industrial jobs, Bischoff commented that two big private shareholders, the German auto group DaimlerChrysler and Lagardere Group of France, did not necessarily accept such pressures.He said: “There is no reason to assume that DaimlerChrysler or Lagardere Group want to make sacrifices on the altar of national feelings.”On Wednesday, Airbus denied a report in German newspaper Bild, quoting well-informed sources, that the company wanted to sell five factories in Germany employing 6 600 people.The report said that Airbus wanted to sell the factories as quickly as it could to investors who would continue to operate them as suppliers to Airbus but at reduced operating costs.Employees would keep their jobs but their pay would fall.However, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after a meeting on Thursday that the effort of restructuring in the group should be spread evenly between France and Germany.EADS has announced severe cost-saving targets to pull Airbus out of a crisis arising from delays of about two years in deliveries of its star product, the A380 superjumbo airliner.However, the company has acknowledged that it faces several other problems, notably in the way it is organised.In the space of two weeks, the man brought in to sort the company out, Christian Streiff, presented the results of an internal audit, laid down objectives and outlined a plan to achieve them; but he then resigned after only 100 days in the job to be replaced by Louis Gallois, co-chief executive at EADS.Nampa-AFP