Airbus CEO Thomas Enders gave an interview to German radio Deutschlandfunk,

Airbus CEO Thomas Enders gave an interview to German radio Deutschlandfunk, which was then transcribed and sent to the press. He insisted that Airbus needed to further move to international markets. The roots of the company are in Europe, and will always be, but success also depends on the capacity to win contracts in North America and in Asia. “My goal is that Airbus will one day be seen not only as a European firm but also an American one”. The recently-won tanker deal is a major step of that strategy. He expects the deal to be definitely ratified by the GAO in the coming weeks. He evoked the weakness of the US currency as a handicap and suggested that other structural measures are to come,

Boeing has not been put off using international partners by its experience with the delayed Dreamliner

Boeing has not been put off using international partners by its experience with the delayed Dreamliner programme, according to the company’s chairman and CEO. Boeing’s strategy on the 787 – of outsourcing an unprecedented amount of manufacturing to partners in Japan, Italy and the US – has provided the group with valuable lessons for its next new jet project, Jim McNerney says. “In a couple of cases, we gave our partners a little more work than they could handle effectively, and we are going to learn from that,” Mr McNerney assured. The next time that Boeing develops a new plane, “It may be a different blend of inside and outside work, but the fundamental strategy would be the same,” he suggests.

EADS announced that the negotiations with Latecoere were over,

EADS announced that the negotiations with Latecoere were over, due to market conditions. The persisting weakness of the dollar, higher credit rates and hard-toobtain banking guarantees constantly cast doubts on the process, Les Echos comments. Like in Germany, the aerospace company will now create an independent subsidiary to bring together the 2 plants, and then sell it to investors, with a pure financial profile. Latecoere seemed to have a solid case to present, though, and beyond the financial issue, the influence of French unions may have played a role in the talk termination. Indeed, some unions’ representatives who chose to remain anonymous said EADS “had been forced to back away from the factory talks due to concerns that buyers faced difficulty funding the purchase during the credit crunch”. The French supplier actually denied any fundraising issue, citing “changes in the way Airbus wanted to proceed”.