Chapter 1262 A secret deal between Airbus and China?

Chapter 1262 A secret deal between Airbus and China?

The last weekend of March 2006.

Although the news about the International Space Station's collision risk earlier this month has not completely subsided, a considerable part of the media's attention has been drawn back to the atmosphere.

Just about two weeks ago, Airbus announced that the world's largest wide-body passenger aircraft, the Airbus A380, will be on public display for the first time at the Singapore Air Show and perform a flight demonstration.

Compared with the aerospace industry, which is currently relatively closed and where input still far exceeds 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 been artificially given many colors beyond the commercial level.

In the past few years, relying on the huge emerging market brought about by the early cooperation with China and the package of "unequal treaties" signed by Boeing in mid-1997 in order to successfully complete the merger, Airbus has surpassed its competitors in the number of new aircraft orders, and the order amount is gradually approaching.

Now as the ten-year period is approaching, Boeing, which has finally completed the integration of its aviation business lines, will definitely launch a strong counterattack, and the Europeans, who have already tasted the sweetness, will definitely fight back tit for tat.

As an aircraft that was clearly declared to challenge the Boeing 380 in all aspects at the beginning of its design, the A747 is almost unsurprisingly regarded as the prologue before the official start of this competition.

On March 3, despite a sudden light rain over Changi Airport, a production Airbus A25 painted in the livery of Singapore Airlines still appeared at the end of the runway as planned, triggering cheers from the audience exhibition area a few hundred meters away.

The British Sky News, which signed a contract with the air show many years ago and obtained priority broadcasting rights, also seized the opportunity and set up a live broadcast camera on a stand not far away.

It just happens to take in almost the entire runway.

"Dear audience, we are at the Zhangyi Air Show. It has been confirmed that the Airbus A380, which has attracted widespread public attention, will take off in the rain and perform..."

The beautifully dressed female host stood in front of the camera and briefly introduced the situation on the scene to the audience around the world. Then she quickly directed the focus to a burly guest next to her:

"We were lucky enough to interview Dr. Charles Champion, a senior executive at Airbus and former chief operating officer of the A380 program, to ask him some basic information about the project."

After saying this, the camera lens zoomed out, placing the two of them at the center of the entire broadcast screen, while not blocking the runway and sky further behind.

At the same time as the camera changed, the A380 slowly began to accelerate amid the exclamations of tens of thousands of spectators on the scene, and finally took off from the ground at an angle that was somewhat unusual for a passenger plane, almost in the center of the broadcast screen.

Everything was as precise as if it had been calculated in advance.

This shocking scene eliminated all the lengthy and boring opening remarks and directly drew the attention of the scene and all the audience to the most critical topic.

After the roar faded away, the host put the microphone back to his mouth:

"Well, I think we have already seen the good performance of this aircraft. Now, please let Dr. Champine give us a brief introduction to the basic situation of this aircraft..."

"I can confidently say that the Airbus A380 is currently the world's largest, most advanced and most environmentally friendly passenger aircraft..."

Champin cleared his throat calmly and began to recall the promotional manuscript that he had already memorized:

"It is expected that the first batch of models to be delivered by the end of the year will be equipped with the Trent 900 engine provided by Rolls-Royce. This is the world's first model of its class that uses a large amount of titanium alloy in the turbine part, so it is lighter and has better fuel economy. At the same time, it will be equipped with a new generation of flight control system to achieve full linkage between rudder control and engine control..."

"Combining all these factors, the Airbus A380 has a larger takeoff weight than the Boeing 747, but its fuel consumption is less than 80% of the latter, and its flight speed is also faster, which means that passengers can reach their desired destination in a shorter time at a lower cost..."

"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 exhibited at this air show, and the new generation A320, about which relevant information will be announced soon..."

"..."

Such interviews are, of course, a matter of mutual benefit.

Sky News needed a heavyweight guest as a gimmick, and Champion, who had just taken over the A320neo project, also needed a good opportunity to promote his company and a series of new models.

However, he played some word games here, using the Boeing 15-747 from about 400 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 in late 2005, and it is still in the design stage at this time, and there is not even a prototype yet.

Who made Boeing so slow?

The host was also very sharp in finding the part suitable for leading to the follow-up topic from this long answer:

"Mr. Champion, you just mentioned that the first batch of Airbus A380 aircraft for commercial operation will be delivered by the end of this year. Although this is six months later than the plan you first announced in 1994, it is about one year earlier than the delivery time re-scheduled in 2003. What factors led to this change?"

“Yes… in large part thanks to our long-standing partners in the aerospace power sector.”

Champiin nodded, and at the same time his eyes involuntarily turned to the Rolls-Royce exhibition hall in the distance:

“Despite the many difficulties encountered during the process, Rolls-Royce still completed the work specified in the contract on time and delivered to us a sufficient number of mass-produced engines for comprehensive operational testing. What is surprising is that some of the performance parameters obtained after installation are even better than those on paper…”

“So there are rumors that you will strengthen your partnership with Rolls-Royce in the future?”

The female host suddenly threw out a fatal question.

This kind of question will be a big problem whether you answer it in the affirmative or in the negative.

Fortunately, Champiin was a veteran and realized almost instantly that this was a trap:

"Rolls-Royce has been, is and will be our important partner. Airbus has always been responsible to customers and has an open attitude in the selection of aviation power models, taking actual needs and performance as the most important decision factors..."

The host inevitably felt a little dizzy because of the long and difficult English sentences spoken at such a fast speed and with a French accent.

Seeing that the other party did not take the bait, she quickly changed the subject:

"So... back to the question of commercial operations, there is news that the first batch of Airbus A380s delivered will include four aircraft, delivered to three users from different countries. Is that true?"

While the two were talking, the A380 in mid-air made another tight, steep turn, fully demonstrating its excellent power and flight control capabilities.

"Yes, I can confirm this news."

After the engine whistled again, Champine answered again:

"The first batch of customers to receive the aircraft include Singapore Airlines, Emirates Airlines and China Southern Airlines. I would like to thank the aviation authorities of these countries for approving the A380 airworthiness certification agreement with unprecedented efficiency..."

"..."

Having said that, anyone who has a little knowledge of the situation knows very well that the focus of Champiin's statement is still China, and the other two countries were only mentioned as an extra.

China has always been relatively conservative in aviation management. This is mainly reflected in the generally long approval cycle for new aircraft models, and airlines tend to let foreign guinea pigs experience them before making purchasing decisions.

The fact that the A380 is able to get the upper hand most likely 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 Champiin himself is not particularly clear about what shameful secrets are behind this.

I just got a few clues from the performance of my partner, Luo Luo...