Page 28 - AAA OCTOBER - DECEMEBER 2023 Latest Magazine | GBP

battles. In fact, in 1988 the MD11
The proposed super stretched MD-11 with
more efficient A330 wing.
“I think the President of Airbus
“It was an irresist- Jean Pierson and I could have
ible force meeting worked a deal,” said Worsham.
an immovable “And middle management
and the technical people were
object. John was onside.”
Strauss, who collapsed and
very proud of what died while hunting a few months
McDonnell Douglas after the meeting with Mr
had achieved and McDonnell, was described by
one Airbus official “as a strong-
of the turnaround willed, sometimes controversial
that had been made, German politician, who had
made aviation his specialty.
while Franz-Joseph Strauss had been extremely
was equally proud active in the re-establishment of
of what Airbus had the German aerospace industry
post-war.”
achieved and was
very dedicated to At the lunch, McDonnell was
what Airbus could upbeat that MDC had sold over
100 MD80s in each of the pre-
accomplish.” vious four years and the MD11
was starting to win more sales
28 | OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2023
won 17 sales campaigns and
Mr McDonnell is likely to have
gone into the luncheon knowing
that Delta’s major MD11 order
was very close. In MDC’s 1988
annual report, Mr McDonnell
said, “Another reason for con-
fidence in MDC’s future is the
rapid growth of some of our
commercial businesses. MDC
re-emerged as a clear number
2 in the commercial aircraft
business as a result of a great
surge in orders for the MD80
and MD11 in 1988.”
What he didn’t know was that
his strategy of not committing to
a new wing for the MD11 to save
money would prove a disaster
sowing the seeds for the col-
lapse of MDC, while the MD90,
the follow on to the MD80 was
a flop.
Worsham reflected that he
was in absolute shock after the
lunch. Months of negotiations
were in tatters in just 45 min-
utes. “Strauss suggested that
Douglas didn’t have a hell of a
lot to offer with old technology
and obsolete stuff and that really
rubbed John the wrong way.
Many things work because of
chemistry and this wasn’t one
of them.”
Worsham said that last chance
at European cooperation for
McDonnell Douglas became
just crumbs on a luncheon table
somewhere in Germany. “I can’t
even remember what the name
of the city was,” he told the
author in 2004.
1990s were a disaster for MDC
History would show that the
forcing its merger with Boeing
in 1997.•
WWW.GBP.COM.SG/AAA