The Aircraft of British Aerospace and BAE SYSTEMS 1977 - 2017 57British AerospAce And AirBus
BAE Systems sells its 20%
holding in Airbus
In 1998-9, Germany and the UK were
close to a pan-aerospace tie-up that
would have left France’s industry as the
minority partner in Airbus, but then BAe
decided to buy the UK’s Marconi
Electronic Systems, ending prospects of a
tie-up with DASA. This left Germany
(which had acquired Spain’s CASA) and
France ready to move closer as the newly
created BAE SYSTEMS focused on its
defence and systems integration
businesses.
DASA did not want to be swallowed
up by the new BAE SYSTEMS and bought
CASA of Spain and then merged with
Aérospatiale, coming together as EADS
(European Aeronautic Defence and Space
Company). The result was that EADS now
had an 80% holding in Airbus and BAE
SYSTEMS just 20%, not a position from
which it could exert much influence.
Immediately BAE had to deny rumours
that it had any intention of withdrawing
from Airbus. However BAE enjoyed the
sizeable revenue and profits that its
Airbus activities generated, and was fully
behind the 1999-2000 revamp of the
original consortium structure into an
integrated company as it prepared to
create the world’s largest airliner, the
A380. No longer would BAE staff and
plants supply parts to another Airbus
partner instead, all the Airbus operations
across Europe were merged into one,
with BAE holding a 20% stake in the
company that ran them.
In 2006 the BAE Board decided to sell
its share and concentrate its activities on
Defence market. Despite early Stock
Market expectations of BAE raising
£2.2bn from this sale of its stake to EADS,
Airbus was hit by major problems with
the A380 and its share price dropped
sharply, so BAE SYSTEMS only realised
£1.87bn but this allowed it to invest more
in the US market. BAE’s share price rose
strongly on the Stock Market though
some commentators took a contrary
view and felt the sale was a dubious
move and wondered why the
Government had not intervened.
Despite BAE’s withdrawal from Airbus
and total disengagement from the civil
airliner market, the UK Government
continued to recognise the importance
of Airbus and invested £340 million in the
Airbus A350 programme. The UK’s
workshare on the A350 has declined from
previous Airbuses and amounts to only
18% of the total on the type. Airbus UKremains well-established at Filton and
Broughton continuing to manufacture
wings for the A320 family, A330, A350,
A380 and A400M military freighter.BAe Aviation Services - Airbus
maintenance and freighter
conversion programme
BAe Aviation Services was formed at
Filton as an MRO, (maintenance, repair
and overhaul organisation) in 1993 after
the lucrative F-111 relifing contract had
ended and VC10 K4 tanker work had
passed its peak. It undertook heavy
maintenance work on all Airbuses and
passenger to freighter conversions on
Airbus A300 B4s. Besides the freighter
conversions Aviation Services won
contracts for Airbus maintenance with
Continental, Indian Airways, Egyptair,
Qantas, Monarch, Virgin and other
airlines.
The decision by BAe to launch its own
conversion programme for the A300 in
1996 was made despite conversions
being available within the Airbus through
Daimler-Benz Aerospace Airbus, which
has been installing Airbus cargo doors
since 1979. What BAe did was introduce
competition to the market and undercut
the German conversion price. The
increasing availability of used A300
airframes helped the market for the
widebody freighter to evolve.
The first Airbus A300B4 freighter
conversion flew on 23 January, 1997. This
aircraft, originally delivered to Eastern
Airlines in 1980 was destined for UK
cargo airline, Channel Express. C-S
Aviation Services, an aircraft lessor, which
ordered eleven conversions from BAe,
placed the next two ex-Air France
A300B4-200s freighter conversions with
HeavyLift Cargo Airlines. Fitted with a
3.58m x 2.56m freight door and cargo
handling system and interior, these
aircraft had an 85,000 - 95,000lb payload
and 2,100 nm range. In all 40 A300B
Freighters conversions were made and
amongst the other customers were DHL,
MNG, TACA, Jet Link, Tradewinds and TNT.
In aftermath of 9/11 in May 2002 BAE
sought a buyer for Aviation Services at
Filton, citing the lack of a sustainable
orderbook, so much so that some A300s
stored a Filton were scrapped. Flight
Structures of Arlington near Seattle,
Washington purchased the Airbus A300
passenger-to -freighter conversion line
and Aviation Services was run down. ■Data Airbus A320
Length 123ft 3in
Wingspan 117ft 5in
Height 38ft 7in
MTOW 172,000lbs
Max speed M 0.78 / 541mph
Range 3,300nm (normal payload)
Passengers 190-195
Powerplant CFM56 27,000lbs / Pratt & Whitney
V2500 27,000lbs From 1993 to
2002 BAe Aviation
Services Filton
undertook heavy
maintenance on all
Airbus types and
carried out freighter
conversions on
A300B4s. Here are
A300s of Apollo, Air
India and Translift in
the Brabazon
hangar. (BAE
SYSTEMS)
The first of 40
Airbus A300B4
Freighters converted
by BAe Aviation
Services at Filton
flew on 23 January,- It was
delivered to
Channel Express on
19 July 1997.
(BAE SYSTEMS)