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Boeing Presses Airbus to Open Its Books
Associated Press
09.24.2004
The chief executive of Boeing Co. said Friday that competitor Airbus' books should be open to inspection, keeping up his lobbying of European leaders over subsidies and loans for the European aircraft consortium in a meeting with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
Boeing CEO Harry Stonecipher said he and Schroeder "spoke frankly together" about concerns he has also expressed to British and French leaders during his European trip: that Airbus is using government loans to cover as much as a third of the company's costs of developing new aircraft.
"Airbus is very successful, they really don't need these loans," Stonecipher said. "They can go to the bank and borrow money like we do."
He said that he and Schroeder both agreed that the matter was something for governments, rather than Boeing and Airbus to work out.
"I didn't find anyone in any of my meetings ... that disagreed with the idea that we need to resolve this thing and that the people to resolve it are the government officials charged with the responsibility," he said.
Stonecipher suggested that the best way to solve the long-simmering trade dispute between the United States and the European Union would be for both companies to fully open their books to inspection.
He defended a $3.2 billion incentive package that Washington offered Boeing last year, saying that it was different from upfront funding for launching new aircraft, and questioned how many tax incentives Airbus, based in Toulouse, France, had received.
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