Carriers Are Confident of Airbus Despite Crash

PARIS — The crash at a French air show of a new A320 airliner came at a crucial time for Western Europe’s Airbus consortium challenge against the might of U.S. plane manufacturers.

But world airlines have so far reaffirmed confidence in the high-technology airliner, which entered service last April. Only six have been delivered.

The narrow-body A320 is the first civilian aircraft to use advanced avionics once reserved for combat planes. The 150-seat plane carries Europe’s ambitions for a significant stake in a booming market for short-haul airliners.

The French Transport Ministry has said initial investigations of the crash of an Air France A320, in which three people died on June 26, cleared the aircraft of blame.

Airlines such as Pan Am, which will take delivery of the first A320s in the United States next year, have confirmed orders since the accident.

“The airlines were quite rightly concerned after the crash but the investigators’ initial findings have shown the plane was not to blame and that has allayed their fears,” an Airbus spokesman said.

Aviation analysts consider the Airbus Industrie goal of taking one-third of the world airline market by 1991, with its varied range of models, to be feasible. It now accounts for more than 20% of the market.

“Once the entire Airbus family is in the air, they may achieve their target. The planes are certainly good enough,” said Ian Wild, aviation analyst with London securities house Barclays de Zoete Wedde.

At stake is not only a major European export industry, but also an estimated 35,000 jobs across the continent and about $6 billion in development costs alone.

U.S. Market Crucial

The Airbus consortium was formed in 1970 by Britain, France, West Germany and Spain to build a family of European jetliners to rival U.S. giants Seattle-based Boeing Co. and McDonnell Douglas Corp. of St. Louis.

The U.S. market in particular is crucial to Airbus’s growth but the European group has had a stormy relationship with the United States.

Boeing and the U.S. government have accused Airbus of receiving an unfair advantage from hefty government subsidies totaling about $10 billion since it was established.

The Europeans have countered that U.S. manufacturers also receive large amounts of government money through military contracts and tax advantages, estimated to be worth about $23 billion over the same period.

“Airbus brought a third force to the aircraft market, especially among airlines which didn’t necessarily want to put all their eggs in an American basket,” said James Halstead, international airlines analyst with Salomon Bros. in London.

Although most Airbuses are in service with European carriers, Asian lines including Korean Air, Indian Airlines and Singapore Airlines have placed major orders.

And in the United States, Airbus counts Northwest, Eastern, Continental and American Airlines among its major clients.

The European group had notched up early success with its first wide-bodied, twin-engined jets, the A300 and A310. The Iran Air jetliner shot down over the Persian Gulf on Sunday by a U.S. warship was one of these models, an A-300B2 Airbus.

Advanced Electronics

The new A320 flew straight into the record books with more than 200 orders placed by the time of its maiden flight last year.

Airbus has made a key selling point of its new planes’ computer controlled “fly-by-wire” technology, initially called into question after the June 26 crash.

In the early 1990s, the Airbus family will include the projected wide-bodied medium-range A330 and the 290-seat long-range A340 which will also feature advanced electronics.

But even then, the Airbus fleet will still lack anything to match Boeing’s 747 jumbo jet, workhouse of most intercontinental flights.

Stung by U.S. attacks on its government subsidies and handicapped by the weaker dollar, Airbus has made efforts to extend its manufacturing across the Atlantic.

Its founding members, British Aerospace, France’s Aerospatiale, West Germany’s Messerschmitt-Boelkow-Blohm and Spain’s CASA, have agreed to subcontract work to North American companies, including Textron and Canadair.

Airbus and McDonnell Douglas have discussed joining forces to challenge Boeing’s 747. Among the projects they have discussed is the joint development of a stretched version of McDonnell’s MD-11 as well as a 100-seat plane.