Odds and Ends: How Alabama won Airbus; ANA 787 test flights

How Alabama won Airbus: Bloomberg News has this story detailing how Alabama persuaded Airbus to located an A320 plant in Mobile, after losing the tanker competition.

ANA to conduct 787 test flights: The Japanese airline, which currently has more Boeing 787s than any other carrier, will conduct up to 200 test flights before returning the 787 to service, according to this Reuters report.

4 Comments on “Odds and Ends: How Alabama won Airbus; ANA 787 test flights

  1. Re Airbus and Allen Mcartor

    He has quite a background- as found on WIKI-

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._Allan_McArtor
    ….. From 1979 to 1994, McArtor served on the senior management team of Federal Express Corporation – except for two years (1987-1989) when President Ronald Reagan appointed McArtor to serve as the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). During that time, McArtor was credited with helping to regain public confidence in air transportation in the U.S., while accelerating the modernization of air traffic control (ATC). He was also active in gaining increased FAA funding for ATC and other critical programs, including Extended Twin OperationS (ETOPS) and Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS). In addition, McArtor created the standards for “Aging Aircraft” regulations and issued the industry’s Stage III noise regulations….

    …. While at Federal Express, McArtor’s responsibilities included oversight of maintenance, operation, training, scheduling and planning for the carrier’s global airline operations, including the successful merger of the Flying Tigers air cargo airline into the Federal Express operations and the development of the long-range fleet plan, which first introduced Airbus A300-600R freighters. Also at Federal Express, McArtor served as Senior Vice President for Telecommunications.
    McArtor is a 1964 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy (BSE) and was the Cadet Wing Commander. In addition, he holds a Masters Degree (MSE) from Arizona State University.
    McArtor was a highly decorated combat fighter pilot in Vietnam, an Associate Professor of Engineering Mechanics at the Air Force Academy, and capped his Air Force career as a pilot with the U.S. Air Force “Thunderbirds” Aerial Demonstration Team. McArtor continues to hold a Commercial Pilot’s license (instrument rating, multi-engine) and is a member of Tau Beta Pi (engineering honorary society).

  2. … and I thought AB was fighting the local government incentives BA received in the US as illegal subsidies…

    egg on head and such. teapot and kettle calling names.

    • More like “fighting fire with fire”. 😉
      ( I expect Airbus to also leverage the implements of commercial misdirection that the US-GAAP provides )

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