W reakcji na umacnianie się wartości euro oraz wzrost cen metali Airbus zdecydował się podnieść cene modeli wąskokadłubowych o $2M a szerokokadłubowych $4M.

GENEVA — In one of the strongest signs that European industry is facing worsening pressure from the strengthening euro, the aircraft maker Airbus said Tuesday that it was raising the price by up to $4 million for its super jumbo A380.

Airbus said the price increase would go into effect May 1 because of the falling value of the dollar, the currency in which its aircraft are priced, and because of the rising price of commodities like steel and aluminum used to make airplanes.

“We have to keep pace with the world market price developments and secure profitable deals,” said John Leahy, chief operating officer for customers at Airbus.

The parent company of Airbus, European Aeronautic, Defense and Space, has been struggling to reduce the impact of unfavorable exchange rates. The company has also been trying to diversify its exposure, and reposition its business to shift more costs into dollars.

As part of the efforts, EADS announced Tuesday that it would buy a California company, PlantCML, which specializes in security systems for $350 million.

EADS said the purchase would expand its presence in the United States and Canada.

Louis Gallois, the chief executive of EADS, the parent company of Airbus, has called the strong euro a “sword of Damocles,” and he has warned that the situation could force the company to shift production outside of Europe.

A particular problem faced by Airbus is that its political structure — with joint management in France and Germany and thousands of jobs in both countries — has hampered it from offsetting more construction costs in dollar-based countries. EADS is not alone, however, and the European defense and aerospace sector has been among of the most vocal lobbying governments and the European Central Bank to take steps to mitigate the effects of the tumbling dollar.

On Monday, a group representing companies in the aerospace and defense sector warned that the weak dollar could lead to losses of thousands of jobs.

The council of the AeroSpace and Defense Industries Association of Europe, which includes top executives from Airbus, BAE Systems, and the engine maker Rolls-Royce, warned that “a massive relocation of aerospace production capabilities as well as technology centers to U.S. dollar priced locations, where labor costs are approximately 30 to 40 percent lower than in the euro zone.”

The council added that such a relocation “could threaten the future of the more than 640,000 highly skilled workers and engineers.”

The dollar has lost about 15 percent of its value against the euro in the last 12 months while metals prices have gone up by at least 6.5 percent, Airbus said in a statement. The company still uses metals for about 40 percent of the construction of planes including titanium, steel, aluminum and aluminum-lithium.

Airbus said the increases would come on top of a normal increase in prices of 2.74 percent and would mean customers would pay an additional $2 million per single-aisle aircraft and $4 million per wide-body long-range including the A380.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/22/bu...in&oref=slogin

Ceny w dolarach
A318 56-62.1
A319 63.3-77.3
A320 73.2-80.6
A321 87.7-92.8

A330-200 176.3-185.5
A330-200F 180.6-187.7
A330-300 195.9-205.7
A340-300 211.8-219.2
A340-500 233-241.1
A340-600 245-253.7

A350-800 205.9-211.5
A350-900 238.2-242.9
A350-1000 267-272.2

A380-800 317.2-337.5

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles...ue-prices.html