Chapter 1262 The secret deal between Airbus and China?
The last weekend of March 2006.
Although the news of the collision risk of the International Space Station at the beginning of this month has not completely subsided, a considerable part of the media's attention was still attracted back to the atmosphere——
Just about two weeks ago, Airbus announced that the Airbus A380, the world's largest wide-body passenger aircraft, will be publicly displayed for the first time at the Singapore Air Show and will perform a flight demonstration.
Compared with the current aerospace industry, which is highly closed and whose inputs still far exceed its output, air transportation and aviation manufacturing can actually affect the operation of the world economy.
Not to mention, after the Boeing-McDonnell Douglas merger, the competition between the two aviation giants Airbus and Boeing has already artificially added many colors beyond the commercial level.
In the past few years, Airbus has surpassed Airbus in the number of new aircraft orders, relying on the huge emerging markets brought about by its early cooperation with China and the package of "unequal treaties" signed by Boeing in mid-1997 to successfully end the merger. Opponents, and the order amount is gradually approaching.
Now, as the ten-year period approaches, Boeing, which can finally complete the integration of its aviation business lines, will definitely make a vigorous counterattack, and the Europeans, who have already tasted the sweetness, will definitely respond tit for tat.
The A380, as an aircraft that was clearly announced at the beginning of its design to challenge the Boeing 747 in all aspects, is almost undoubtedly regarded as the prologue before this competition officially begins.
On March 25, despite a sudden light rain over Zhangyi Airport, a production Airbus A380 painted with Singapore Airlines still appeared at the end of the runway as originally planned, triggering a panic in the audience area a few hundred meters away. Cheers.
The British Sky News station, which signed a contract with the air show organizer many years ago and obtained priority broadcast rights, also saw the opportunity and arranged a live broadcast seat in a stand not far away.
Just enough to bring almost the entire runway into view.
"Dear viewers, we are at the Zhangyi Air Show. It has been confirmed that the Airbus A380, which has received widespread public attention, will take off in the rain to complete the show..."
The beautifully dressed female host stood in front of the camera and gave a brief introduction to the audience around the world. Then she quickly focused on a burly guest next to her:
"We were fortunate enough to interview Dr. Charles Champion, a senior executive at Airbus and former chief operating officer of the A380 project, and asked him about some basic information about the project."
After finishing speaking, the camera lens zoomed out, placing the two people at the center of the entire broadcast screen without blocking the runway and sky further behind.
At the same time as the camera changed, the A380 slowly began to accelerate amidst the exclamations of tens of thousands of spectators at the scene. Finally, it was almost in the center of the broadcast screen, departing at an elevation angle that was somewhat unusual for a passenger aircraft. take off.
Everything is as precise as if it had been calculated in advance.
This shocking scene directly eliminated all long and boring opening remarks and directly drew the attention of the scene and all the audience to the most critical topic.
After the roar gradually faded away, the host put the microphone back to his mouth:
"Okay, I think we have intuitively seen the good performance of this aircraft. Now let's ask Dr. Champine to briefly introduce the basic situation of this aircraft to us..."
"I can say with great confidence that the Airbus A380 is currently the largest, most advanced and most environmentally friendly passenger aircraft in the world..."
Champine cleared his throat calmly and began to recall the promotional text that he had already memorized in his mind:
“It is expected that the first batch of models delivered at the end of the year will be equipped with the Trent 900 engine provided by Rolls-Royce. This is the first model of its class in the world to use a large amount of titanium alloy materials in the turbine part, so it weighs more. It is lighter and has better fuel economy. It will also be equipped with a new generation of flight control system to achieve complete linkage of rudder control and engine control..."
“Taken together, the above factors allow the Airbus A380 to consume less than 80% of the latter’s fuel even though its take-off weight is larger than that of the Boeing 747, and its flight speed is also faster, which means that passengers can use less fuel. The cost is lower, and you can get where you want to go in less time..."
"In addition, it is worth mentioning that the same flight control system as the Airbus A380 will also be installed on other Airbus models, including the A350 also on display at this air show, and relevant information will be made public soon. The new generation A320..."
"..."
This kind of interview is, of course, for everyone.
Sky News needs a heavyweight guest as a gimmick, and Champion, who has just taken over the A320neo project, also needs a good opportunity to promote his company and a series of new models. However, here, he played a little bit of word games and used the Boeing 747-400 about 15 years ago as a comparison object, thus obtaining an extremely exaggerated data.
Of course, this is not a big problem.
After all, the updated 747-800 project was only launched at the end of 2005. At this time, it was still in the design stage, and even the prototype was not yet available.
Who told you that Boeing is slow?
The host was also very keen to find the suitable part to lead to the follow-up topic from the long answer just now:
"Mr. Champion, you just mentioned that the first batch of Airbus A380 aircraft will be delivered for commercial operation at the end of this year. Although this is six months later than the plan you first announced in 1994, it is still faster than the plan you first announced in 1994. The delivery time was revised forward by about a year in 2003. What factors led to this change? ”
"Yes... in large part this is thanks to our long-standing partners in aerodynamics."
Champine nodded and at the same time cast his eyes involuntarily towards the Rolls-Royce showroom in the distance:
“Despite the many difficulties encountered along the way, Rolls-Royce completed the work specified in the contract on time and delivered us a production engine in sufficient quantities for full operational testing, and the amazing thing is that , some of the performance parameters obtained after installation are even better than on paper..."
"So there are rumors that you will strengthen the cooperative relationship with Rolls-Royce in the future?"
The hostess suddenly threw out a proposition.
Whether you answer this question in the affirmative or in the negative is a big problem.
Fortunately, Champien was experienced in many battles and realized this was a trap almost instantly:
"Rolls-Royce has been, is and will be our important partner in the past. Airbus always adheres to the concept of being responsible to customers and an open attitude in the selection of aerospace power models, taking actual needs and performance as the most important deciding factors... ”
The long and difficult sentences in English that were delivered very fast and with a slight French accent made the host inevitably feel dizzy.
Seeing that the other party did not take the bait, she quickly changed the topic:
"So... back to the issue of commercial operations, there is news that the first batch of Airbus A380 deliveries will include 4 aircraft, which will be delivered to 3 users from different countries. Is this true?" < br>
While the two were talking, the A380 in mid-air made another tight steep turn, fully demonstrating its good power and flight control capabilities.
"Yes, I can confirm this news."
After the engine screamed again, Champine replied again:
"The first batch of delivery customers include Singapore Airlines, Emirates Airlines and China Southern Airlines. I would like to express my special thanks to the aviation authorities of these countries for passing the A380 airworthiness certification agreement with unprecedented efficiency..."< br>
"..."
Although that is said, anyone who knows a little bit about the situation knows very well that the focus of Champine's statement is still China, and the other two countries are only mentioned together as additions.
China has always been relatively conservative in its aviation management, which is mainly reflected in the fact that the approval cycle for new aircraft models is generally long, and airlines also tend to let foreign guinea pigs experience it before making purchasing decisions.
And the fact that the A380 is so popular probably means that some undisclosed deal has been reached between the two parties.
But the details here are impossible to ask publicly, let alone answer publicly...
Of course, on the other hand, even Champine himself doesn't actually know what the dark secret is behind this.
I just vaguely guessed some clues from the performance of my partner Luo Luo...
(End of chapter)