FlightCom – August 2019

17 FlightCom Magazine

Antoine Gelain, of Paragon European

Partners, estimated in a recent column for

Aviation Week that the A320 single-aisle

family accounts for half of the company’s

revenues and at least two-thirds of its

profits. “Beyond that, the A350 production

forecasts keep being revised downward, the

A330 is at a standstill, the A380 has just

been cancelled, and the A400M military

transport is a financial chasm,” Gelain says.

Airbus’ creation and its longevity were

made possible by three factors: politics,

people and technology. Without the political

backing in France and Germany, the A

would not have taken off. Without the vision

and skills of founders Bernard Ziegler,

Roger Beteille and Felix Kracht, it would

not have been developed. Without the

persuasiveness of Jean Pierson, John Leahy

and others, it would not have sold enough

products to gain a foothold in the market.

And without industrial strategists such as

Jean-Luc Lagardere, Manfred Bischoff and

later Tom Enders, Airbus would not have

become the integrated, globally focused

company that it is today.

IN THE BEGINNING

AW&ST reports that on 6 October

1968 Ziegler hosted Beteille at his home on

Avenue Stephane Mallarme in Paris. Their

joint project was in crisis, and the two were

keen to save it. In May of that year Rolls-

Royce had come up with a price tag for the

proposed RB207 engine that was to power

the original A300. “The difference in price

of the RB211 for the Lockheed L-1011 was

simply unacceptable, and we realised that

Rolls was playing another game without

admitting it,” Beteille said at the time. “By

continuing in that way, we would have ended

up with nothing more than a superb glider.”

Beteille and Ziegler decided to take

the risk and propose a major change in the

A300 layout. If the aircraft was no longer

targeting the 300-seat short-haul market

but was shrunk to an 80% scaled version of

its former self, Airbus would not only have

to spend much less on development, it also

would suddenly have engine choice: The

RB211 was big enough and so would be the

CF6.

Sure enough, soon after the meeting,

talks began with GE’s engine division—

including its then-CEO of German origin,

Gerhard Neumann—and the CF6 became

the A300’s first engine. Only much later

was the Pratt & Whitney JT9D added.

Rolls-Royce never supplied an engine for

the first- and second-generation (A310) of

Airbus aircraft.

On 29 May 1969 the French and German

governments agreed on a memorandum of

understanding at the Paris show to jointly

develop the A300B. At the time, it was not

a momentous event: The Airbus project was

a r e a l it y.

Following the engine sourcing, the

quandary over the A300’s wings nearly

killed the development programme. While

UK-based Hawker Siddeley was willing to

take on the wing work, the Labour British

government refused to provide development

money. The German government came to

the rescue by agreeing to fund the work,

removing one of the last major hurdles to

programme launch.

THE THREE VISIONARIES

Political influence on Airbus

management was long considered an

albatross, because until 2007, the company

was led by two co-CEOs—one French,

one German—to ensure that each nation’s

interests were protected. But in the

beginning, political support for financing

was crucial.

A controversial German politician,

Franz Josef Strauss, played a crucial role.

Strauss, who was later elected leader of the

Bavarian conservative party CSU, defence

minister and prime minister of Bavaria, was

an aviation enthusiast and private pilot. He

became the first chairman of the Airbus

Industrie supervisory board in 1970 and

stayed in that role until his death in 1988,

helping ensure that Airbus survived difficult

times.

Ziegler was named as the first CEO of

the Airbus Industrie consortium, Beteille

became chief operating officer, and Felix

Kracht, who had played an important role

in the background, headed production.

German-born Kracht seemed like the ideal

person for the job. An engineer and pilot,

in 1937 he became the first person to cross

the Alps in a self-constructed glider. Later,

he pioneered inventions like the airborne

coupling of aircraft to allow refuelling.

He also worked on the DFS 228, a high-

altitude reconnaissance aircraft. Starting

in 1959, he served as the representative of

France’s Nord Aviation at German aircraft

manufacturer Weser Flugzeugbau and

played a leading role in developing the

Franco-German Transall C-160.

In 1967, Kracht became managing

director of Deutsche Airbus, which was to

consolidate Germany’s workshare in the

upcoming programme. Along with Beteille

Airbus believed the

A340 was the right

aircraft to compete

with the 777

Airbus A310 - the family grows.