Can someone explain what’s happening there ?? is that rough protectionism ? On what grounds do they think the selection was biased ? Don’t tell me that the whole Europe should fly with airbus only and US with Boeing only :s
Simple answer: politician & lobbyist playing games. These politicians simply don’t have a common sense. I’m pretty sure they did not pay attention in ECON 101 & 102 courses in college. Boeing’s tanker uses B767 which is smaller than the Airbus’s tanker A330. I’m not an aviation expert but I believe A330 has a longer flight range than the B767. EADS has been producing military tankers for other countries therefore, A330 tankers have been used in real-time vs Boeing B767 tankers with no real-time use. My point, GAO has no clue and has no ground on urging US Air force to reconsider the contract. I’m a proud American and also a fan of Boeing commercial jets, especially the new B787 Dreamliner, but this Air Force contracts? Gee… Boeing should just focus on developing more fuel-efficient commercial jets, and help our struggling U.S. airliners with their future operations (if they can afford it).
The airbus is the better plane. I don’t think protectionism has any place in deciding this contract. if people are willing to put their life online they should get the best equipment.
i don’t think it is necessarily protectionism, it was the contract bid had specifics on the plane they were bidding on, which Boeing honored, but EADS bid on that plane plus extended the specifics to cover the larger plane purchases. I thought Boeing is claiming they were unaware of the additional option to include further bids outside the scope of the RFP…that’s the problem, not that they were beat on comparable planes (b/c the planes weren’t comparable)
prockets Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > i don’t think it is necessarily protectionism, it > was the contract bid had specifics on the plane > they were bidding on, which Boeing honored, but > EADS bid on that plane plus extended the specifics > to cover the larger plane purchases. I thought > Boeing is claiming they were unaware of the > additional option to include further bids outside > the scope of the RFP…that’s the problem, not > that they were beat on comparable planes (b/c the > planes weren’t comparable) I didn’t know that. I thought it was another case of politics trumping rational decision making.