Airbus Industries made a quiet entry into the world of aviation, with little public belief in its long term success. Very few people suspected in the early stages that this consortium would ever develop enough steam to challenge the mighty Boeing on its own turf, especially when one of its "Fly by Wire" jets gently descended into a thick French forest in front of the television cameras. The media told us the aircraft thought it was in Uganda rather than France, but no matter what caused the crash, it led to almost terminal public relations damage for the European plane maker.

          Years later Airbus products started turning up at just about every airport, and then Airbus challenged the "lower rung" of the Boeing 747 with its four-engine A340.  This was serious competition for Boeing, especially so when Lufthansa bought an entire fleet of the things.  Suddenly the emphasis shifted. Everyone liked the reliable old 747 of course, but this newcomer with European trimmings was kind of nice. More leg room, better movies, better seats, first with personal TV monitors - it just went on and on, with a cheerful Airbus sales team fanning out across the world, trying to sell an Airbus to just about anyone with a bank account..

          Not completely satisfied with its market share, Airbus Industries then announced it would build the prestigious A3XX, a Super Jumbo designed from the outset  to seat more people that a stretched Boeing 747 ever could, with a built in gym and disco to keep the passengers happy over the Atlantic. This was war!  All of a sudden but a little too late, Boeing saw the danger signs, with a threat large to eventually shut down its 747 manufacturing operations. Not this year of course, but certainly at some time in the future if Airbus gets enough orders for its A3XX.

          At the same time, Airbus Industries made another dangerous move certain to alienate the Americans. During 1998 they started talking to the Russians about a joint venture on the A3XX. The Russians? America's old Cold War enemies? The very same, and it got worse. By mid 1999 Airbus had completed a joint co-operation feasibility study with AERC (Aviation Euro-Russian Consortium), and had signed A3XX sub-contracting agreements with three Russian aerospace companies.  All Airbus needed now were firm orders rather than mere expressions of interest, which were not long in coming. Just a few weeks ago Emirates placed firm orders for five with options on a few more.

          The bottom line for the American aerospace industry now, is to find a way of convincing current and future customers that the Europeans are not to be trusted, especially when it comes to air safety. Thus the crash of AF 4590 was a political gift of considerable magnitude. There can be little doubt that Concorde will now be used in a deadly game of one-upmanship. The Europeans will continue to shove its sleek nose hard up against American airport terminals,  while the Americans will increase the pressure on this "Titanic of the Air".  For differing reasons, neither side will be urging crash investigators to produce accurate results.