From: "Rich Gauszka" 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070303.RTHEWEEK03/TPStory/Bu
siness
Business in Europe isn't like business as regular folk in the rest of the
world understand it, though. If it were, you wouldn't end up with Airbus.
In fact, when you have a multinational Godzilla of a corporation like
Airbus, you don't need Agincourt or the Somme, because all the blood is
being spilled in the boardrooms.

Imagine the fun and games of running an airplane maker that employs more
than 56,000 people in four different countries. For example, you make the
wings in Britain, the fuselage in Germany, the tail in Spain and all the
pretty-looking fiddly bits like the champagne cooler in France. While all
this is going on, you field weekly calls from the prime minister of each
nation just to make sure you're respecting their hard-working lads' right
to an hourly beer-and-cigarettes break.

Finally, you try to fit all the parts together. Voil…! No wonder the wires
don't work and you have to tell your global customers there's going to be a
slight delay while Henri, Sergio, Klaus and Gary consult the instruction
manual.

Airbus's nightmare with the flagship A380 was compounded this week, with
United Parcel Service becoming the latest customer to cancel its order and
an announcement by Airbus's parent EADS of 10,000 layoffs across its
factories.

Some clarification here: Under a proclamation made by Emperor Commodus in
193 AD, it's actually illegal for a job to be lost anywhere on the
continent of Europe. This came into effect after the Vomitorium Employees
Guild revolted over job cuts and their sanitation worker comrades in Gaul
walked out in sympathy.

So don't be alarmed, none of those 10,000 workers will actually be out of
work. Those staff protests you saw outside Airbus factories after the
restructuring announcement this week were actually spontaneous outbursts of
joy over their impending time off while a panel in Brussels decides where
to reassign them.



"Gary Britt"  wrote in
message news:45e9c583$1{at}w3.nls.net...
Yeah the vaunted airbus 380 is doing great.  That's why Fedex cancelled
their entire order previously and why UPS just yesterday announced they
were cancelling their entire order.  The airbus 380 is the Vista of big
commercial jets. 

Gary

Adam > wrote:
>
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/03/business/worldbusiness/03skies.html?_r=1&re
f=business&oref=slogin
>
> "Negotiators for the European Union and the United States reached a
> preliminary agreement on Friday to all but eliminate restrictions on
> trans-Atlantic air routes, a breakthrough in talks aimed at increasing
> the number of flights and lowering fares.
>
> Europe’s transport commissioner, Jacques Barrot, said the European
> Commission had made “decisive progress” in talks with United States
> negotiators in Brussels toward concluding a hard-fought “open skies”
> agreement. Mr. Barrot said he intended to submit a draft proposal to
> European transport ministers on March 22.
>
> In Washington, the deal needs Congressional approval before the rules
> would take effect on Oct. 28.
>
> “The open-aviation area could be a centerpiece for a reinvigorated
> trans-Atlantic relationship,” Mr. Barrot said.
>
> An accord would allow European airlines to fly into the United States
> from anywhere in the bloc, which has 27 member nations, instead of from
> just their home countries.
>
> At the same time, restrictions on United States airlines flying to
> Europe would be loosened, effectively removing barriers that now grant
> only two carriers — American Airlines and Delta Air Lines — the right to
> fly into Heathrow Airport near London.
>
> The transportation secretary, Mary Peters, who announced the deal in
> Washington, said it would offer more choice and convenience to
> consumers. The trans-Atlantic market represents 60 percent of global air
> traffic, according to the International Air Transport Association trade
> group."
>
> Oh & rather humorously:
>
> "According to the official, the commission said the United States had
> also agreed to drop rules that restrict the rights of European airlines
> to buy into airlines in other non-European countries that have bilateral
> aviation agreements with the United States.
>
> If a European airline buys, for example, an African carrier, the buyer
> cannot now automatically acquire the right that the African carrier may
> have to fly to the United States, because Washington would view it as a
> European airline.
>
> The commission said the draft agreement would grant several other new
> rights to European carriers, including the right to fly from the United
> States to non-European countries and to have access to the “Fly America”
> program for the transport of passengers and cargo financed by the United
> States government."
>
> The last sentence is a classic.
>
> Adam

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