Page 27 - AAA OCTOBER - DECEMEBER 2023 Latest Magazine | GBP
P. 27

was tantalizingly close and it
        was “looking win, win”. Airbus
        was still yet to crack the US
        market and many saw a tie-up
        with MDC as the answer. In
        1987, Airbus aircraft only made
        up 2% (53 aircraft) of the US
        fleet, although another 60 were
        on order.

         In March 1988, European
        Government ministers gave
        Airbus until July to bed-down
        a deal with MDC.  Airbus also
        talked with Lockheed about a
        US production line for the A320
        but Henri Martre, the then-head
        of Aerospatiale and a member
        of the Airbus supervisory board,
        told trade media that “the Airbus
        partner  companies  were  in
        agreement with the Government
        view that McDonnell Douglas                        Floorplan of the proposed joint production
        offered the best possibility for               of the C-17 and A320 in Building 54 at Long Beach.
        successful cooperation.”



                                                                                  McDonnell Douglas produce
                                                                                numerous in-depth studies on
                                                                                how  the  co-production would
                                                                                work using its facilities at Long
                                                                                Beach and Salt Lake City.


                                                                                  Worsham confirmed that at all
                                                                                levels of middle management
                                                                                there was consensus and real
                                                                                cooperation  between Airbus
                                                                                and MDC and Airbus insiders
                                                                                say that agreement was immi-
                                                                                nent with press releases drafted
                                                                                detailing the agreement.

                                                                                However,  Worsham  claims
                                                                                that the luncheon meet-
                                                                                ing in Germany between the
                                                                                then-Chairman of the  Airbus
                                                                                Supervisory  Board,  the  late
                                                                                Franz-Josef Strauss and the
                                                                                new MDC Chairman John
                                                                                McDonnell was a disaster. “This
                                                                                is a people business and John
                                                                                and the late Franz-Joseph just
                                                                                didn’t get on. I knew almost
              MDC Chairman John McDonnell and DAC President Bob Hood            immediately that the deal was
                 at the roll out of the MD90 in 1992  ©Geoffrey Thomas          dead.”

        ASIAN AIRLINES & AEROSPACE                                                    OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2023 | 27
   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32