The French Senate will recommend a change in EADS’s shareholder pact,

reportsweekly magazine Challenges. Jean Arthuis, the President of the Senate’s FinanceCommission, will release the conclusions of a probe into possible insider trading at EADS atthe end of March or beginning of April. According to Challenges, this report calls for anecessary reform of the group’s shareholder pact, under which the French State owns a 15% stake of the group’s capital but does not benefit from the same rights than privateshareholders Lagardere and Daimler.
Dow Jones Newswires (19/03), Challenges

EADS could dip into its own reserves to pay for its shareholders’ dividend.

Though thegroup posted a € 446M loss and an 87 % fall in Ebit in 2007, it wants to take good care of itsshareholders Lagardere and Daimler, comments L’Usine Nouvelle. The executive committeereportedly seeks to secure a dividend of 12 cents per share, or € 98M in total, and would beready to take this amount from its own cash reserves. The magazine points out that thisnews will not be happily saluted by the group’s workers, who see their own wages underpressure due to the Power 8 programme.
L’Usine Nouvelle

EADS’s victory in the US Air Force tanker competition remainsunder political fire in the US.

In its appeal against the Air Force’s decision, Boeing claims itwould have proposed a superior offer, based on its 777 model instead of the 767, if thebidding requirements had clearly stipulated that size was a major element in the contest.According to the Wall Street Journal, indeed, an Air Force internal document emphasisesthat the size and capacity of the A330 tanker variant proposed by EADS gave the team a“significant advantage” over Boeing. Hence, the US manufacturer says the tankercompetition was unfair and tilted to favour EADS and its partner Northrop Grumman.The French weekly press goes back over the outburst caused by the US Air Force’s decisionto award the multibillion contract to EADS.

French weekly Challenges wonders whether Latecoere can afford the Airbus sites in

Meaulte in Saint-Nazaire on its own. The plant sale programme is going slower thanplanned in France because EADS and the public authorities are eyeing whether Latecoerewill be able to remain independent and, above all, 100 % French. A € 300M capital increaseis planned at the Toulouse-based supplier, putting its very control at stake. Only twoEuropean candidates would be interested, says the weekly. The government also studies aFrench-French scenario, based on the intervention of state-owned investment bank CDC.
Challenges

EADS airframe and light aviation subsidiary Socata is looking for a partner to launch

abusiness jet project. Socata wants to develop an eight-seat business jet. L’Usine Nouvelledeems that Daher could be favoured as a partner, because the two suppliers have alreadyjoined forces to compete for work on the Airbus A350 programme. Socata’s project is valuedat € 250M, and EADS would not be ready to finance it, according to the weekly. An industrialpartnership with Daher could eventually lead to a capitalistic alliance. Such a solution mightsuit EADS as Socata is not one of its priorities. It could also be seen as a good opportunityfor Daher to strengthen its aerospace component manufacturing activities. But a sourceclose to the matter said the issue should not be solved quickly: “Daher first wants to finalisethe A350 case before making any decision regarding Socata”.
L’Usine Nouvelle

Dubai said it was in talks with Airbus and Boeing about buying aircraft

for its future low-cost carrier and may place an order soon. The airline will beequipped with “either Boeing 737s or Airbus A320s”, said its CEO Ghaith al-Ghaith. The newcarrier will start operations as soon as the emirate’s second airport opens its doors, possiblynext year.
Reuters (19/03), Le Figaro Economie

Boeing confirmed yesterday it would have to redesign parts of its new 787 Dreamliner,

raising concerns that it could delay the first delivery for a third time. Refusing tocomment on the details of the redesign work, Boeing spokeswoman Yvonne Leach toldFinancial Times that the group was sticking to its most recent guidelines, though it wasundertaking a review of the programme and would report its conclusions at the end of thismonth or early next month. These declarations, in fact, came in response to a warning fromSteven Udvar-Hazy, CEO of US aircraft leasing group ILFC, the 787’s largest customer, whotold a JP Morgan conference that the first deliveries of the aircraft would be delayed for atleast another six months because its centre wing box needed to be redesigned.

The supremacy of Airbus and Boeing on the single-aisle aircraft market could bethreatened,

analyses Financial Times Deutschland. New suppliers are emerging in thishighly lucrative aircraft segment. While the successful A320 and 737 have won record ordersover the years, Airbus and Boeing will be busy manufacturing and delivering these aircraft forthe coming years. This leaves room for challengers, such as Canada’s Bombardier, to unveilnew models with more fuel-efficient technologies. These companies bet on the assumptionthat ever-increasing oil prices may force airlines to drop their long-time aircraft suppliers. Yet,according to an Airbus spokesperson, no groundbreaking technologies in terms of emissioncuts and higher efficiency can be expected until the end of the decade.
Financial TimesDeutschland

China is expected to officially launch its new national aircraft manufacturer in May.

The new entity would be in charge of building big-size aircraft, thus challenging Airbus and Boeing. The State and the regional government of Shanghai will be the group’s two largestshareholders, followed by Avic I and Avic II. Three other state companies –namely Chinalco,Baosteel Group and Sinochem Corp- will invest 1Bn yuans (€ 90M) each and own a 5 %stake in the future group’s capital, valued at 20Bn yuans (€ 1.8Bn). AFP (19/03),
LaCorrespondance Economique