Airbus A400M: decisive meeting? The latest warns Belgium!
(BRUXELLES2) Will the meeting in Germany, in mid-October, between the partners of the Airbus A400M be the decisive meeting? In any case, several ministers want to believe it. On the Spanish side as on the Belgian side, we want to be optimistic. I am "very confident in our ability to reach an agreement which is important for the European aerospace industry" Spanish Minister Carme Chacon explained at the meeting of defense ministers at the end of September in Gothenburg.
No need to wait any longer. For Pieter de Crem, the Belgian Minister of Defence, it is important to succeed. We can't hang around anymore. " We collect the answers of the last questions of the Castelet (the meeting organized between the A400M partners, on July 24). We have a range of solutions and we will have to decide. It's not worth waiting any longer. he explained in an interview.“It's also important to see the plane fly – the faster the better – and to see that it's not just a project. This is a very important project for our European aeronautics industry and for all our French, German and British partners (on the Belgian side, delivery being scheduled for 2018, the pressure is less strong). And some really need that plane »
Everyone must fulfill their obligations. As for the hypotheses of renegotiation of quantities or price, De Crem is very clear " We have an initial agreement and must keep it. For Belgium, our intention is not to reduce orders — when we commit to a defined number of planes, we have to keep ". On the price, he wants to be particularly firm: “ LBudget cuts affect all the budgets of our countries. It would be an illusion to think that the Minister of Defense could come back before the Council of Ministers saying: sorry, I need more money because the contract could not be respected. It's unthinkable».
NB: The Airbus test flight could take place by the end of the year. The latest engine tests are satisfactory, according to Marshall Aerospace (the engine testing company). Louis Gallois, the CEO of EADS spoke of a range between December 2009 and February 2010, with a strong probability that it is in December 2009. A flight which could even be advanced to November 30, according to the latest forecasts.