Airbus - Firm Presentation

Airbus: firm presentation

Airbus S.A.S. began as a consortium of European aviation firms to compete with the might of the American firms such as Boeing. It was set up in 1970 following an agreement between Aerospatiale (France) and Deutsche Aerospace (Germany) (joined by CASA of Spain in 1971 and Great Britain in 1979) to develop the A300, which first flew in 1972. A shorter variant is known as the A310.

As of October 2002, Airbus is jointly owned by European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) and BAE Systems. Nevertheless, the main shareholder remain EADS with 80 % of shares. Airbus president and chief executive officer is Louis Gallois.

Currently there are around 1600 Airbus aircraft in service, with Airbus having around 50 percent of outstanding build orders (1999), although Airbus products are still outnumbered 6 to 1 by in-service Boeings. A turboprop powered military transport aircraft (the A400M) is being developed by several NATO members, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, Turkey, and the UK, as an alternative to the C-130 Hercules.

On the commercial side, 2006 was Airbus’ second best year ever in terms of the number of orders in its 35 year history. 824 new firm orders were taken during the year, representing 44 percent market share which is in line with the company target of remaining in the 40 to 60 percent band, after having a share of above