787 Dreamliner Headed for Farnborough Image: Boeing
- Launch aid for every Airbus program deemed illegal and damaging
- 'Prohibited' A380 launch aid must be withdrawn 'without delay'
- Legal principle set: airplane programs must be funded on commercial terms
- Government funding of Airbus infrastructure and R&D programs also ruled illegal
- More information, including excerpts from the decision, is available at www.boeing.com/wto
CHICAGO, June 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Boeing (NYSE: BA) today praised the World Trade Organization's final ruling that billions of dollars in European launch aid subsidies used by Airbus to develop its commercial airplanes are illegal and must end. The decision, which the WTO made public earlier today, also declares that a broad array of government funding for Airbus research and infrastructure development violated international trade agreements.
More information, including excerpts from the decision, is available at www.boeing.com/wto
Boeing 767 Based KC-45 Refuels a Northrop-Grumman B-2 Spirit Image: Boeing
Publisher's note: As of today, both Boeing and Airbus have now submitted their Tanker bids to the US Department of Defense and non-conventional wisdom suggests that the WTO ruling will have an adverse effect on Airbus' chances for securing this contract -- as it must. One can also logically conclude that if the acquisition party circumstances were reversed; i.e., Boeing attempting to gain ascendancy over Airbus in its own backyard and therefore placing the manufacturing bases -- and thousands of jobs -- of EU countries with Airbus operations at risk, there would be little chance of success. 7/9/10
