American aircraft maker Boeing says the Romanian Government's decision to buy four A318 aircraft from its rival Airbus is the wrong thing to do because of costs.
"A growing trend among carriers in these difficult times for industry is to simplify and streamline their fleets rather than make them more complex by operating mixed fleets of aeroplanes in the same size category. Mixing fleets has been shown to increase costs in the long run as it creates operational and economic inefficiencies. It is estimated that mixing A318s into the existing fleet would cost Tarom $60 million in additional operating costs over the next 10 years," Michael Tull, Boeing spokesman, told Ziarul Financiar on Monday.
Tarom has seven Boeings (and will get two more this year) and two Airbuses. In 2001, Tarom cancelled four 737-800s, although it had originally agreed to buy four 737-700s and four 737-800s.
"Tarom cited that it was inappropriate to grow its fleet before 2006," Tull added. He also specified that the Government of Romania or Tarom did not request Boeing to propose solutions to Tarom's fleet requirements, when it decided to increase its fleet. "Boeing will not speculate as to why the Government of Romania and Tarom changed its mind about its fleet strategy," Tull said.
Boeing and Airbus are engaged in a fierce battle worldwide, as almost every contract signed is followed by comments from the party that lost the deal. Most of the times the decisions to buy from one of the two are made under political influences. A European banker working in Romania even told Dow Jones that buying Airbuses was only regaining France's goodwill following the differences during the war in Iraq.
When contacted by Ziarul Financiar, neither Tarom's nor Airbus' officials provided any comments on this deal by the time the story was ready for print.
The decision to buy four Airbus A318 was made at the end of last month, when an Airbus delegation visited Romania. The first aircraft will be delivered in 2005. ionut.bonoiu@zf.ro
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