By Jaap Verduijn

The seemingly heroic Airbus versus Boeing battle is often seen as an issue of national dignity and pride, especially in the United States where such things are astonishingly important. On the eastern side of the Atlantic most people couldn't care less, though. That's partly because "Europe" is still more a matter of irritation and ridicule than a political desirability in its member states, partly because government funds (AKA the people's taxes) go to Airbus which does not make the company particularly loved, and partly because most member states abhor nationalism since they saw in World War Two what it led to in Germany, Italy and Japan. In short: your average European wants to be transported safely, cheaply and comfortably... and doesn't give a fiddler's fugg about the brand name of the jet he happens to fly in, or the country, town or suburb where it was assembled.

 

But there's another point, that Europeans tend to be more aware of than Americans. It's the plain fact that each Boeing aircraft contains so many European parts that it's half European anyway, and for the similar but reverse reason each Airbus jet is half American. If all European parts factories stop producing, not a single new Boeing jet will take to the air, and if all American parts factories decide to quit, Airbus too is done for. That's a simple fact, although often ignored.

 

All this having been said, there's one ages old but still quite essential issue that may cloud the future not of Boeing but of Airbus, especially the enormous Airbus A380: the sad fact that, just like the USA, France is still mentally, ethically and morally stuck in the time of its Revolution, to wit the 18th century. For Boeing this nationally glorified backwardness doesn't matter: their jets are produced/assembled within the United States anyway. But for Airbus it's a different matter: although most large Airbus A380 assemblies are produced in Germany and the UK, France insisted on having the final assembly take place within its own borders, to wit in Toulouse. The partnering countries gave in, and signed the possible death warrant of Airbus.

 

Basically there's nothing wrong with the Toulouse factory, and the French are perfectly able to assemble each and every high-tech aeroplane they want. But... before you can assemble all sub-assemblies into one beautiful airplane, those sub-assemblies have to be available. And that's where it goes wrong: the logistics. The Airbus A380 is so enormous, that the larger of its sub-assemblies don't fit into Airbus' usual transport plane for these things, the megacephalous Beluga. In other words: they can't be flown in. Suddenly France is, not only mentally but also technically, back in the 18th century: large parts of the presently most advanced passenger jet in the world are transported to Toulouse by road, river and canal! Yes indeed: wing assemblies and other "big things" are loaded on flat-bottomed barges to be slowly (sloooowly...) transported by water, and then transferred to gigantic trucks and trailers that have to carefelly drive over country roads and through small villages to finally reach the Airbus factory in Toulouse. In some of these villages there's less than a foot clearance between the load and buildings along the road, which doesn't really improve speed of transport.

 

In short, the Airbus A380 history contains an enormous enigma, that can't be solved by us lesser mortals: why the fugg did everybody give in to the French? They don't have any significance in the world anymore, do they? So why did nobody tell them to simply shove it? Beats me!