Airbus Industrie

The competition for the Pentagon's biggest contract in years intensified Monday as European aircraft maker Airbus said it would assemble commercial jets in the U.S. if it won the $40 -billion award to build aerial refueling tankers for the Air Force. The announcement marks the latest effort by Airbus and its partner Century City-based Northrop Grumman Corp. to upset rival Boeing Co. to build the planes that would be used to refuel fighters and bombers in midair.

An Airbus A380, the world's largest airliner, became the first commercial jet aircraft to use alternative fuel Friday, marking a milestone on the road to biofuels. The double-decker A380 needed no modification to use the gas-to-liquid, or GTL, fuel, which was designed to be mixed with regular jet fuel so the airplane "does not know the difference," Airbus said.

In a stunning upset that could reshape the nation's aerospace industry, Northrop Grumman Corp. and European partner Airbus were tapped Friday for a $40-billion Pentagon contract to build 179 aerial refueling tankers for the Air Force. Century City-based Northrop upset rival Boeing Co. in a surprising win that analysts said could alter the companies' fortunes and erode the Pentagon's long-standing policy of buying weapons systems made by U.S. companies.

Boeing Co. may finally have won back some bragging rights. The world's second-largest commercial aircraft maker said Thursday that it booked 1,044 orders for its airplanes last year, setting a company record that is likely to help Boeing beat its European archrival Airbus for the first time since 2000. Airbus, which plans to release its year-end results Jan.

Aircraft manufacturer Airbus may get assistance from European governments to help fund $15.4 billion in development costs for its A350 model, French Transport Minister Dominique Perben said. France and the other countries where Airbus has its main operations will keep an earlier commitment to help the company if it makes the request, though the aid may not be direct loans as in the past, Perben said.

Los Angeles officials lashed out Wednesday at Airbus, saying the European airplane maker reneged on a promise to bring its new A380 jetliner to Los Angeles International Airport on its first U.S. test flight. Airport officials called on Airbus to reconsider a recent decision to have the A380 -- the world's largest passenger jet -- touch down in New York next month on its first U.S. visit.

Airbus Chief Executive Louis Gallois is drawing up compromise restructuring proposals after the main German shareholder blocked a plan designed to help the aircraft maker cope with costly production delays, people familiar with the discussions said Tuesday. Tuesday's scheduled launch of the long-awaited Power8 strategy was called off after representatives of DaimlerChrysler refused to endorse the plan at a Sunday board meeting of Airbus parent company European Aeronautic Defense & Space Co.

United Parcel Service Inc. and plane maker Airbus have agreed that either company can cancel an order this year for 10 A380 freighters after repeated production delays. UPS will decide whether to retain the $2.8-billion order after getting new delivery dates from Airbus, a UPS spokesman said Friday. The companies declined to provide details of the accord.

The board of Airbus parent EADS approved a restructuring plan for the troubled European aircraft maker Monday, breaking a weeklong deadlock over job cuts and future jet programs between France and Germany. The European Aeronautic Defense & Space Co. said details would be released Wednesday after they were passed through company ranks. The plan will allow the civil airliner division of Airbus to "face the challenge of the U.S.

Troubled plane maker Airbus confirmed 10,000 job cuts and announced plans to sell all or part of six factories Wednesday as workers protested and European politicians hailed a hard-fought compromise. Airbus Chief Executive Louis Gallois gave a stark vision of a Franco-German company needing to find billions of euros in savings and end nationalist infighting that he deemed "poison."