Neither the U.S. nor the European sides are giving an inch in the prolonged legal, political and public relations battles over allegedly illegal aerospace subsidies. The World Trade Organization’s March 31 ruling on Airbus’s complaint about alleged subsidies to Boeing has already prompted an indignant European Union to appeal on the grounds that it doesn’t sufficiently damn U.S. conduct. As of press time, the U.S. government was set to launch a counter-appeal on the grounds that the findings were illegitimate.
The latest ruling found that between 1989 and 2006, Boeing received a total of $5.3 billion in various U.S. federal and state subsidies that had illegally distorted competition with Airbus and other foreign manufacturers. That amount, which relates mainly to development of the new Boeing 787 widebody, totaled just over a quarter of the $19.1 billion that the EU had accused the American side of illegally delivering to Boeing. Nonetheless, the published ruling inspired Airbus to claim a massive moral victory that vindicated the European airframer after “years of unfounded accusations and attempts to demonize Airbus.”
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