EADS in good shape: Germany's Hintze
BERLIN (Reuters) - European aeronautics and defence group EADS (EAD.PA) and its Airbus subsidiary have dealt with the problems on new Airbus models and are confident of success, German government aerospace spokesman Peter Hintze said on Sunday.
Ahead of the Berlin Air Show on Tuesday, Hintze said new technologies can always run into problems and delays. He said the aerospace sector would continue growing strongly.
"I believe that Europe will hold onto its top position together with the United States," said Hintze, who is the government's coordinator for the aerospace industry.
"I'm certain that the A-380 will be a success around the world," he added, referring to the new Airbus plane that has suffered from production delays. The boom in the aerospace industry is going to remain."
Hintze said he does not expect any serious long-term consequences due to technology problems with new plane models for Airbus -- or its U.S. rival Boeing.
Airbus announced a fourth set of delays to the world's largest airliner earlier this month, trimming production by one plane in 2008 and 4 in 2009.
It also left open the possibility of delays in the 2010 delivery schedule which has yet to be determined. Airbus said it was too early to predict the financial fallout from the new delays to the plane, which is already running two years late.
Hintze said new models, even the Boeing 747, suffered from delays at first that nevertheless did not hurt their long-term commercial success.
Hintze said he expects climate change to be a dominant issue at the Berlin Air Show at Schoenefeld airport starting on Tuesday.
"We've got to come up with solutions," he said.
Responding to a call from EADS Chief Executive Louis Gallois for more state aid made during the weekend ID:nL24434644, Hintze said the industry knew it was "very ambitiously and very fairly" funded.
The government supports the aeronautics industry in research and development in line with the regulations of the World Trade Organization and the European Union, he emphasized.
"That is only valid with the firm commitment that production takes place here as well," Hintze added.
