Caldwell: Everything seems to be quite haywire at Airbus

The new chief executive officer at Airbus has a colossal mess on his hands, but at least one comfort: What else could possibly go wrong?

The A380 has become an albatross. The “superjumbo” jet is overweight and overdue, the delays caused in large part by wiring problems that will require the first few planes to be custom wired. Seems the wiring harnesses installed in the German-made tail section do not plug into the French-made forward section.

And that’s just part of the problem. The wires, in a weight-trimming measure, are aluminum instead of copper. Because aluminum is less flexible than copper, marrying the mismatched harnesses will be create additional bulk.

Imagine the complexity of wiring a home entertainment system, figure in the hourly rate for an electrician, and multiply that by many thousands — the A380 has about 300 miles of wiring, and additional costs in the neighborhood of $6 billion begin to make sense.

But rewiring, while bothersome, entails relatively straightforward technical fixes. Airbus’ political and financial woes dwarf the wiring issue. Thursday, while CEO Louis Gallois was visiting the Airbus plant in Hamburg, Germany, warning that tough decisions lay ahead, German and French leaders were in Paris suggesting job cuts be kept to a minimum.

A reorganization plan developed under Gallois predecessor Christian Streiff envisioned laying off as many as 10,000 of the 57,000 directly employed by Airbus in German, French, Spanish and British factories. Streiff quit after three months when it became clear his multinational board was not going to let him issue any pink slips.

Gallois has a reputation as a good manager, with political antennae to match. He successfully ran SCNF, France’s well-regarded national railroad, and Aerospatiale, an airplane maker that was a predecessor to the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. EADS is the corporate parent of Airbus.

Not only must Gallois get A380 production back on track, he must apply some of his political skills to keeping his customers in the boarding area. With deliveries now two years behind schedule, representatives of Singapore Airlines and Emirates are unhappy. Although unlikely to bolt, executives have to be asking themselves if a new Boeing 747 at the end of the jetway is not worth more than an A380 in a factory in Toulouse, France.

Gallois also must decide to go ahead with a completely redesigned A350 to compete with Boeing’s 787 and 777 models, which are hogging orders for mid-sized planes. Boeing, in what now looks to be one of the greatest strategic calls in the history of civilian aviation, foreswore development of a superjumbo plane to focus on the 787, its Dreamliner. Launching a new A350 will cost $10 billion, but the alternative would be allowing Boeing a near monopoly in the sweet spot of the aircraft market.

Unless Gallois can find a banker with a severe case of vertigo, he will likely have to turn to Europe’s governments for the necessary capital. That would throw more jet fuel on a fierce trade dispute with the United States over subsidies to Airbus, which hankers after a pending contract for new Air Force tankers that may be worth $20 billion.

Boeing, meanwhile, has reportedly already been able to raise prices as its rival reorganizes. Components for the 787 will start arriving at company factories early next year. Key assemblies are coming from as far away as Italy and Japan. The first plane is expected to fly late in 2007.

Expected to fly. The 787 is a daring aircraft in its own way. The plane will be the largest made mostly of composite, plastic-like materials instead of the traditional aluminum. There is no reason to think the material will fail; composites are already incorporated in other Boeing planes. But a glitchless transition to more comprehensive use of the stuff is not a given. It does not take much to cause grief. The A380, for example, is just plain overweight, not good if you are trying to minimize fuel use.

Spokane has a stake in the success of Boeing and Airbus. Triumph Composites and Kaiser Aluminum are among the suppliers to both companies. Although Boeing is Washington’s hometown hero, it would be best not to gloat over the difficulties of its European competitor.

Fortunes have turned in the airplane business before.