Airliners.net Civil Aviation: Emirates To Trade Up To New Twins

Airliners.net Civil Aviation: Emirates To Trade Up To New Twins: "Well, the A330/340 loans haven't been repaid. Here is some evidence:


As noted, Airbus publicly stated that the A320 loans had been repaid. The UK Government also verified this. With all the WTO bally-hoo going on, if Airbus had repaid the A330/340 loans then surely we would have heard about like we did the A320? If there was ever a time for 'guilt by omission'...


The Airbus loans are meant to be repaid over a 17-yr term. The A330/340 was launched in 1987, so the 17 years expired in 2004. Yet, neither Airbus or the governments have said that the repayments had been completed.


Finally, Airbus took more large loans in 1997-98 for the A340-500/600 models and has only delivered several dozen. So, they are early-on in the piece with repayments on those loans. The other model that was launched after 1987 -- the A330-200 -- was mostly funded by Airbus. I would be surprised if any repayments are made to governments (apart from a small loan from the French Government) from the sales of that particular model."