54 The Aircraft of British Aerospace and BAE SYSTEMS 1977 - 2017
British Aerospace becomes a
partner of Airbus
At its formation, British Aerospace had a
significant if not partnership role in
Airbus and was anxious to have a stake in
the A300’s successor which was soon to
be launched. The French and German
Governments made approaches to the
British Government to rejoin Airbus. A
Memorandum of Understanding under
which BAe would take a 20% share was
signed in December 1977 as a
preliminary to re-admittance as a partner.
Just as matters seem settled the waterswere muddied when Boeing sought to
entice BAe into its embrace as a
sub-contractor on the wing of the Boeing
757, powered by Rolls-Royce RB211s and
ordered by British Airways which showed
no interest in Airbus. Rolls-Royce and
some in the Labour Government were
pressing for the Boeing-BAe deal while
the Europhiles wanted BAe to be a full
partner of Airbus, not just a sub-
contractor. In the talks between
Governments, the French insisted that a
condition of British re-admittance was an
order by British Airways but the airlineremained intransigent. The French were
deeply offended by BA’s launch order for
the 757.
Eventually a deal was cobbled
together whereby BA was permitted to
order 757s while the Government
announced on 6 November 1978 that
BAe would formally join Airbus in January
the following year. The Government
agreed to financially support BAe’s
rejoining Airbus as considerable
investment in plant would be necessary.
It would continue to produce the A300
wings and would have a substantial share
in the A310. Freddie Laker ordered ten
A300B4s for Laker Airways, becoming the
first UK Airbus operator, although BA
continued its ‘Boeing Always’ policy
(inherited from BOAC, ‘Boeing Only
Aircraft Corporation’).
Britain, once an equal partner with
France in the consortium with Germany,
now rejoined in third position with just a
20% holding and without a role for
Rolls-Royce. Spain was now a participant,
albeit a small player with just a 4.2%
share, while France and Germany’s share
was cut to 37.9% each to accommodate
their new partner. This investment by the
British Government came with no
guarantees of success but following a
slow first decade, sales were beginning to
accelerate and in 1990 Airbus finally
broke even. Some of this success can be
attributed to the decision in mid-1978 to
proceed with the A310, a medium to
long-range 200-seater which had very
positive impact on sales figures.
After much political manoeuvring,
Britain at last secured for itself the design The first of five
Airbus A300-600ST
Belugas, F-GSTA
which was a heavily
rebuilt version of
the A300 needed to
transport parts of
the Airbuses from
factory to factory.
(Airbus)A RAAF Airbus MRTT (Multi-Role Tanker
Transport) refuelling an F-16. The aircraft is based
on the A330-200 and its basic fuel capacity is so
great that no additional tanks are needed for
air-to-air refuelling. (Airbus)