Les Echos wonders how to end the crisis of confidence at EADS

Les Echos wonders how to end the crisis of confidence at EADS. Columnist Bruno Lancesseur says the “EADS house is burning”. Since the first A380 delays, bad news coming from Hamburg and Toulouse have accumulated. Yet, EADS remains a “paradox”: the company represents one of the “most beautiful industrial ventures in Europe” –Eurocopter is the world’s largest helicopter manufacturer; MBDA is the number-one or two in the missile world; and EADS Astrium is a leading satellite manufacturer. Not to mention Airbus’s success, points out the columnist, who sees several reasons to the current crisis: the weight of French-German balance; the group’s governance structure; programme issues; illintegrated operations, etc. While Boeing enjoys considerable commercial success with its 787 Dreamliner, EADS now needs to soothe internal tensions to get going. Solving this crisis of confidence, concludes Mr Lancesseur, implies passing a “double test”: completing the A400M’s first flight successfully and solving the A380’s industrialisation issues for good. Les Echos