John Young, the Pentagon’s top acquisition official, warned Congress on Friday not to interfere with the US Air Force’s decision to buy new tankers from the EADS/Northrop Grumman team.

Mr Young told reporters that threats by some Congress members –mostly from the states of Washington and Kansas where Boeing plants are located to cancelthe contract funding would create “dangerous precedents”. The official added that the selection by the Air Force was “valid” and should not be set aside “on a political basis”. He reaffirmed that EADS and Northrop Grumman made the most advantageous proposal for “the taxpayer and war fighter” both in terms of cost and capability. Hence, Mr Young pointed out, any move by Congress to eliminate funds for the tankers would mean that “the choice will not be connected in any way to quality of the source selection. It will be connected to a set of political issues, which are largely what is being debated about the tanker”.

As it is finalising its A350 XWB project, Airbus pays close attention to Boeing’s mistakes with its 787 Dreamliner.

The US magazine says “sometimes it pays to be in second place”. In the past four years, Airbus has witnessed the 787’s commercial success –nearly 900 orders- while its own plans to design a rival plane stumbled. But, adds the magazine, Boeing’s announcement this month that the 787 schedule would be delayed for a third time could be seen as “a blessing” for Airbus, whose A350 plane is not due to enter service until 2013. “We are obviously keeping a close eye on the problems Boeing is having”, Airbus CEO Thomas Enders is cited as saying. Indeed, argues BusinessWeek, the plane maker cannot afford “to get this plane wrong”. The A350 has won 371 orders so far. Airbus plans to outsource production of substantial sections of the new plane to foreign suppliers, but this is what took Boeing into trouble.

‘Nightmares in Seattle’.

In an article entitled ‘Nightmares in Seattle’, German magazine Focus goes back over the delays affecting the Boeing 787 programme, calling this situation a “disaster”. Focus

EADS will create a new subsidiary regrouping Germany-based sites.

During a works council on Friday, the management of Airbus announced that three of the four German sites put up for sale as part of Power 8 –namely Nordenham, Varel of Airbus and Augsburg of EADS- would be regrouped within a holding named ‘German Aerostructures Company’ (GAC). This new entity will be a fully-owned subsidiary of EADS, said the management to Le Journal du Dimanche. In a document obtained by the Sunday paper, EADS ensures that the creation of GAC, which will be led by Hans Lonsinger, the current director of its Augsburg facilities, “does not alter the group’s will to conduct the sale of all the sites concomitantly”. The company adds that this is an “intermediate stage” before a buyer is found.

EADS is about to sell its Socata unit to French aerospace,

EADS is about to sell its Socata unit to French aerospace, defence and automotive supplier Daher, reports Le Journal du Dimanche. The Sunday newspaper cites concomitant trade union sources as saying that the company would sell 100 % of its Tarbes – based unit specialised in airframes and light aviation to Daher. Lucien Cazenave, FO union representative at Socata, declared: “EADS only wants to sell us in order to raise the cash it could not get because of the failure of the sale of the German sites. This is unacceptable”. At Daher, however, internal sources replied that “nothing is finalised” over such a deal. AFX (20/04), La Tribune, Le Journal du Dimanche (20/04)

Airbus will raise its Research and Technology spending by 25 % as early as this year,

in an effort to boost the development of env ironmental-friendly technology. Spanish daily ABC reports that Airbus makes it a priority to reduce emissions. “Technology is and will always be the key for progress”, the plane maker is cited as saying. Though it insists on the fact air transport only generates 2 % of worldwide CO2 emissions, Airbus agrees that the sector must do “everything possible” to improve its ecological records. In a separate report, Financial Times echoes that the aviation industry is making efforts to “clean up”. The British daily cites Airbus estimates that passenger traffic increases 5 % a year, which will lead to demand for 24,000 new aircraft by 2026.

Investors are worried about uncertainties looming over the Lagardere Group.

In a comment piece in La Tribune, Laurent Roussel, vice-director of research on derivatives at Exane Derivatives, says the Lagardere share has been under “excessive pressure” lately. The AMF probe into alleged insider trading at EADS heavily weighs on the media group, indeed, as investors judge there is a 50 % chance that Lagardere could be condemned to pay € 1.6Bn in compensation and fine to the French state within two years. Yet, analysts at Exane BNP Paribas play down this risk, saying the AMF should not issue its verdict until several weeks or even months and that an appeal would still be possible. Another source of uncertainty is the possible disposal of Lagardere’s holding in EADS. But this issue is not on the agenda, point out the analysts, as a short-term divestment would prove much complex. La Tribune

Airbus calls on Chinese partners to join efforts for a green aviation industry

Airbus called on its partners and suppliers, as well as other key players in the Chinese aviation industry, to share its vision of a green aviation industry and to join in its efforts to make aviation an eco-efficient industry. The appeal was made at a conference on aviation eco-efficiency, which was held yesterday in Beijing.Addressing the China Eco-efficiency Conference, which was attended by Chinese government officials and representatives of airlines, Rainer Ohler, Airbus Senior Vice President Public Affairs and Communications, said that a green industry must be the vision for the future of aviation and joint efforts are needed to make aviation an eco-efficient industry – which means growing and creating value with less environmental impact.