Oversized and Over There

Appropriately for an 840 passenger jet, Airbus had too much of almost everything, and now must shed the dead weight:

PARIS, Nov 6, 2006 (AFP) - European aircraft maker Airbus plans to reduce by 80 percent the number of subcontractors used by the company as part of a vast restructuring plan aimed at reducing costs, a company spokesman said Monday.

The number of subcontractors is to be cut from nearly 3,000 to about 500, the spokesman said, confirming a report in the Financial Times Deutschland published on Monday.

The group, based in Toulouse, southern France, also plans to cut its administrative costs by EUR 900 million in total by 2010 and its supply costs by EUR 350 million over the same period, the spokesman said.

He added that the number of logistics facilities used by the company would be reduced from 80 to between four and eight.

Update: Word appears to be filtering out:

Boeing scored a victory in the airliner wars Tuesday when FedEx became the first customer to cancel an order for Airbus's much delayed A380 jumbo jets and said it will instead will buy Boeing 777s.

FedEx Corp., the world's largest express transportation company, cited production delays for its decision to retract an order for 10 of the new double-decker A380's. Its FedEx Express unit has ordered 15 Boeing Co. 777 freighters with a list price of $3.5 billion (2.8 billion euros) and taken options on an additional 15.