A380 to cost US$281m: Airbus chairman
PARIS : Airbus has put a catalogue price of 281 million dollars
(234.6 million euros) on its future super-jumbo A380 model and
expects at least one major Japanese airline to buy it, chairman
Noel Forgeard said.
Speaking before a ceremony to open massive production facilities at
Toulouse, southern France, later on Friday, he said: "The catalogue
price of the A380 is 281 millions dollars (235 million euros)
apiece."
Forgeard told US cable news television CNBC: "I'm very confident
that at least one major Japanese carrier will operate the A380 for
a very simple reason.
"Others carriers like Air France, Singapore or Lufthansa will
operate the A380 in Tokyo Narita and then it will obviously put a
huge pressure on the operators if they do not have the A380," he
said in reference to the Japanese capital's main airport.
The plane, expected to carry more than 500 passengers, is being
developed by Airbus, which is 80-percent owned by the European
Aeronautic Defense and Space company (EADS) and 20 percent by BAE
Systems of Britain.
Forgeard acknowledged that airlines rarely pay the catalogue price
for planes, noting also that market prices were currently
stable.
"In general, airplanes are sold today at about the same price in
current dollars as three years ago, before September 11" terror
attacks against the United States, he said.
"This is good for the airlines but it's (a) more difficult
environment for us," the Airbus chairman said, before adding that
his company was making "huge progress" in productivity.
The future super-jumbo will also be highly fuel efficient, Forgeard
told France Inter radio, consuming around three litres (0.78
gallons) per passenger for 100 kilometers.
"The fact that oil is very expensive is very favorable for the A380
because it will be the most economical plane in existence,"
consuming "less than a small car," he claimed.
Forgeard admitted however that high oil prices could hurt the
airline sector in general.
Speaking on the delicate issue of job relocations, he said Airbus
does not have "a policy of relocalisation in the aim of finding
lower prices elsewhere.
"Our base is primarily European but it could happen that in order
to reach certain important markets, for example in China or Russia,
we have to pay a price on the industrial level."
- AFP
=====================================================
Courtesy channelnewsasia.com
Friday, May 7th 2004