Several emailers have asked why existing Air Bus customers just don't walk away and buy Boeing; why ask Air Bus to change designs? The answer appears to be in the parts required to maintain their existing Air Bus planes. To shift from Air Bus to Boeing will require a dual parts/maintainence program for the affected airlines. The "new"Air Bus must be a very bad plane for companies to even consider switching. The French and other EU countries will end up subsidizing the ten bil costs of fixing the plane because it is built in ten or more countries with the various air frame sections shipped to France for assembly. We're talking half a million subsidized (fake) jobs here and the resulting unemployment for the EU will be too serious to ignore. The net of all this will probably be that airlines buying Boeing will have a two year jump on those using Air Bus. My original Air Bus post is here.

Late add (3/31 3AM) The Wall Street Journal has completely ignored this major business story. I've long had no use at all for this paper as an investment tool and the non-reporting of this story demonstrates what I mean. The Journal feels you should invest by using company and knowledge of business as opposed to the IBD theory of market generated information.