Airbus Industrie's Take-Off Delayed Until 1999

There will be a delay in getting Europe's Airbus Industrie civil aircraft consortium off the ground as a full-fledged corporation. The conversion is being complicated by the status of France's Arospatiale, which continues under state ownership, while partners British Aerospace PLC and Daimler-Benz Aerospace are privately held. Implicitly admitting the French are dragging their feet, Airbus's CEO Nol Forgeard has told the German weekly publication Der Spiegel: "We hoped the new firm would exist in 1998. Now it seems that the four partners will unite their factories toward the middle or the end of next year."