Date: 24 Nov 97 03:27:49
From: glenn@ims.uni-stuttgart.de (Glenn Carroll)
Organization: IMS, University of Stuttgart
References: 1 2 3
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In article <airliners.1997.2618@ohare.Chicago.COM>, don@news.daedalus.co.nz (Don
Stokes) writes:
|> I don't believe the airlines lost money on Concorde any more than an airline
|> "loses" money on any new aircraft ... [Thus] leaving the
|> French & British Governments wearing the development costs.
While both gov'ts ended up paying for their foolishness, the finger of
guilt can be pointed somewhat more precisely than previous postings have
done. On the British side, the Ministry of Transport refused to let
the Ministry of Finance check their numbers, fearing (rightly) that the
project might get cancelled. About half-way through the project, with
the budget already exceeded, the MoT realized it's mistake. Well, one of
their mistakes. The other was signing a contract which required the
permission of the French to withdraw from the project. The French refused.
It would be interesting to know how the Airbus Industrie partnership
contracts read, in light of the above.
glenn
--
Glenn Carroll glenn@ims.uni-stuttgart.de
Institut fuer Maschinelle Sprachverarbeitung
Azenbergstr. 12
70174 Stuttgart (49)711-121-1387 office
Germany (49)711-121-1366 fax
