Censored Broadcast To Be Aired Thursday
The general public will get a peek Thursday into the contentious
dispute between the US and the European Union -- and their
respective aerospace manufacturers, Boeing and Airbus -- over
accusations of unfair funding practices and subsidies.
According to The Associated Press, the proceedings from the
World Trade Organization hearing in Brussels, Belgium will air on
closed circuit television Thursday. It will also be heavily
censored, as many of the allegations are considered
confidential.
As Aero-News reported, both
sides expended considerably energies last year accusing one another
of unfair government payments. The United States claims Airbus has
benefitted from billions in illegal development financing and debt
relief from the EU member states that comprise the EADS aerospace
consortium.
On the other side, the
EU says the US government provides tremendous hidden support to
Boeing's commercial planes division, through many lucrative
military contracts.
The actual meeting occurred Tuesday, and focused exclusively on
EU government payments to Airbus, which US representatives claim
allowed Airbus to undervalue its aircraft, and gave the company an
unfair advantage -- one that allowed Airbus to overtake Boeing in
the sales race in 2001.
Boeing has since reclaimed its sales crown... but the company
says the principle remains.
"The damage that we've always been concerned about is ... the
commercial risk that we take and the commercial risk that they
don't take when it comes to subsidies," Boeing Commercial Airplane
CEO Scott Carson said during Monday's conference call with analysts
and reporters, on the status of the planemaker's 787 program.
"The absence of taking full commercial risk creates an
unbalanced playing field, and that's always been the issue," Carson
added.
Meanwhile, Airbus says Boeing has won the war, at least for
now... so the battle no longer has merit. The EU plans to present
its own allegations of government improprieties involving Boeing
this week, including charges Boeing earns "unprecedented" subsidies
from the state of Washington that allowed the company to accelerate
development of its 787 and other planes.
The EU also maintains the amount of research funding Boeing
earns from US government is 10 times higher that what Airbus
receives.
As it stands, the WTO is scheduled to release its final report
on the US case against Airbus on October 31, and its ruling on the
Airbus vs. Boeing case in April 2008. Those dates aren't set in
stone, however -- especially as both sides continue to make new
arguments stating why one company has an advantage over the
other.
Children, children... can't we all just get along?
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