"Airbus Is Accused of Sweetening Jet Deals with Airport Landing Slots"

Sunday, February 9, 2003

Airbus Is Accused of Sweetening Jet Deals with Airport Landing Slots
United Kingdom - The Financial Mail on Sunday


PARIS--Airbus, part-owned by Britain's BAE Systems, has been accused of
offering airlines valuable landing slots at major airports if they buy
aircraft from the Toulouse-based jet manufacturer. 

The "slots for planes" allegations follow last month's controversial award
of landing rights to Malaysian Airlines at Charles de Gaulle airport in
Paris after a five-year wait. The deal came just three days after Malaysian
ordered six jumbo Airbus A380s. 

Malaysian Airlines said the timing was a "huge coincidence," but other
airlines, such as Emirates and Qatar Airways, also received extra landing
rights after buying the same Airbus planes, it is claimed. 

And no-frills carrier easyJet, which has long sought access to Orly, Paris's
second airport, is expected soon to be awarded hundreds of slots there after
recently ordering 120 Airbus planes in a UKpound 2 billion deal. But on
Friday, easyJet denied that there was any link. 

BEA Systems has a 20 per cent stake in Airbus Industrie. 

An aviation expert in Paris close to the affair confirmed to Financial Mail
that landing rights are bartered between governments as part of big
commercial deals. 

He said: "It can be Middle East oil for French gunboats or cocoa beans for
lorries. But, increasingly it is orders for Airbuses, which are assembled in
France, in exchange for the right of an airline to fly into French airports.


'And of course there is the French government's favouritism for its flag
carrier, Air France. It is often Air France that dictates whether a foreign
operator flies in and out of France." 

Suggestions that Airbus uses its influence to secure landing slots for its
customers was also confirmed by a source close to Emirates. He told
Financial Mail: "This has been known for years. Airbus sells one of its
planes to a customer and promises to do its best to get slots for that
airline. 

'It seems that Airbus leans on Air France, which has the slots at Paris
Charles de Gaulle, and the slots are given to the airline that has bought
the Airbuses.

'The EC competition authorities should look into this. It is a scandal under
their noses." 

Analyst Pierre-Antony Vastra of investment bank CDC Ixis in Paris said: "I
am not shocked in the least by the link between Airbus purchases and landing
rights. After all, what is the point of buying a plane such as Airbus if you
don't have traffic rights?"

Airbus Industrie and the French Civil Aviation Authority strongly denied the
allegations, which first surfaced in Le Figaro newspaper. 

The FCAA said: "The claim that our airports give privileged treatment to
companies operating Airbuses is completely unfounded."

Airbus Industrie in Toulouse, southwest France, where the planes are
assembled, said: "We sell our planes on a purely commercial basis. Airbus is
certainly not involved in any deals involving air traffic rights."

Jacques Reder, a spokesman for the Paris Airports Authority, said: "Air
traffic rights between countries are negotiated on a bilateral basis to
ensure that carriers have fair reciprocal access. The airport authorities
have no power of decision."

The French airport authorities insist that any slots available at Orly would
belong to Air Lib, France's second biggest airline, which is grounded and
teetering on the brink of bankruptcy.


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