Overview

On May 29, 1969, government ministers from France and Germany squeezed into a makeshift airplane cabin on the tarmac of Le Bourget airport near Paris and agreed to finance the construction of the first Airbus commercial jetliner. The low-key ceremony at that year's Paris Air Show brought together two former enemies whose once-flourishing aviation industries had been decimated by war, and the moment affirmed their shared ambition to reclaim Europe's role as a global technology leader. It was a goal that seemed the height of folly: In the 1960s, aerospace was the pinnacle of high tech and dominated in the West by American giants like Boeing, Lockheed and McDonnell-Douglas. Europe's only other civil aircraft project, the supersonic Concorde, was behind schedule and over budget - proof, it seemed, that Europeans weren't yet ready to compete. Fifty years ago, the odds against success looked overwhelming. Airbus's journey to become one of the world's two biggest plane makers is a remarkable tale that unfolds over a period of dramatic technological, economic and political change. It tracks the revival of Europe from the devastation and division of World War II, through the Cold War and into the new challenges of the early 21st Century. Nicola Clark's unique and comprehensive history of the first fifty years of Airbus offers not simply a celebration of an innovative and successful company, but a valuable insight into the creation, development and success of a world-leading aviation innovator.

Full Product Details

Author:   Nicola Clark
Publisher:   Urbane Publications
Imprint:   Urbane Publications
ISBN:  

9781912666140

ISBN 10:   1912666146
Pages:   400
Publication Date:   01 May 2019
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Not yet available  
This item is yet to be released. You can pre-order this item and we will dispatch it to you upon its release.

Table of Contents

AIRBUS AT 50: TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: The Pioneers Chapter 2: A European `Meccano' Chapter 3: From Crisis to Credibility: A Near-Death Experience Chapter 4: Facing Goliath: The American Breakthrough Chapter 5: Family Time: The Product Line Expands Chapter 6: Flying by Wire Chapter 7: A Consortium Reaches its Genetic Limits Chapter 8: E Pluribus... Airbus: Toward a Single Corporate Entity Chapter 9: Make Way for the Deal Makers: The Creation of EADS Chapter 10: The Winged Colossus and the Wages of Hubris Chapter 11: Picking Up Pieces, Tearing Down Walls Chapter 12: The Tanker and the Warbus Chapter 13: The European Mega-Merger That Wasn't Chapter 14: Dismantling the Silos and Cleaning Out the Barn Chapter 15: The Next 50 Years: A Future Beyond Europe?

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Author Information

Nicola Clark worked for The New York Times and the International Herald Tribune for 15 years, writing about aviation, business and European affairs. Her extensive coverage of Airbus and air transportation has earned several awards, including Aerospace Journalist of the Year in 2007, from the World Leadership Forum. A native of Portland, Oregon, she worked previously for The Wall Street Journal in New York and for news agencies in Tokyo, London and Hong Kong before settling in Paris, where she now lives with her two sons.

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