TOULOUSE, France (AFX) - The new chief executive of Airbus, Louis Gallois, said the planemaker has lost a fifth of its competitiveness against its main rival over the past six years.
In an interview with the Depeche du Midi newspaper, Gallois said: 'We have lost 20 pct of our competitiveness compared to Boeing since the launch of the (development of the) A380 (superjumbo) in 2000 due to the fall in the dollar.'
Gallois said the integration of Airbus' parallel structure is a 'key priority.'
'We can no longer have a system that functions with hidden national hierarchies running parallel with the Airbus chain of command,' said Gallois, adding that a 'fairly deep reorganisation of the chain is necessary.'
Gallois said five elements of the 'Power 8' plan to speed up development programmes, relations with suppliers and economies of structure are already in place. But he said 'the remaining three (sites and the division of manufacturing between the Toulouse and Hamburg assembly plants) are still in the study phase,'
'Everything will be discussed. No one will be left out,' he said.
The two sites are 'of course not under threat from our plan, even if we see a better division of work between the two,' he said.
Asked about possible new sacrifices demanded of subcontractors, Gallois said he is 'conscious of not being able to continue indefinitely to tighten the screw without affecting the industrial fabric that Airbus depends on.'
However, he said 'subcontractors must organise, with our support, in a more efficient manner to be more competitive.' 'We can't escape a reduction in the number of subcontracts and suppliers,' he said. newsdesk@afxnews.com afp/jlw/jms COPYRIGHT Copyright AFX News Limited 2006. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News. AFX News and AFX Financial News Logo are registered trademarks of AFX News Limited
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