JetBlue Snubs US for the French?

From NewsMax.Com

Tuesday, April 29, 2003

JetBlue Snubs U.S. Aircraft Companies for the French

When JetBlue Airways Corp. recently announced that it had ordered 65 A320 aircraft from the French Airbus company, with options for 50 more, a lot of the boycott-France folks got up in arms - none more so than a former Capitol Hill staffer who helped write the FAA rules, which were designed to discourage such foreign airliner purchases in the first place.

JetBlue’s newly ordered aircraft will be delivered starting in 2004. In addition to the 41 aircraft in service, JetBlue already had 46 A320s on order. With the latest French order, JetBlue’s fleet could grow to as many as 202 French-made A320 jetliners by 2012.

Here is what Carl Biersack is telling NewsMax and anyone else who will listen:

I was one of the congressional staffers who wrote the FAA Reauthorization that changed the rules at the slot-controlled airports. One of the conditions I put in the law was that the allocation of the slots would be based on the maximum contribution to America’s aviation system/infrastructure.

This was meant to ensure that slots would go from those controlled airports to cities where there would be lots of passengers or to hubs because they will connect to many other cities, and, finally, it was meant to require carriers to buy American airplanes.

Clinton Again

When one writes laws - especially authorization laws - one cannot be as specific as appropriators can where they make earmarks. Well, Clinton’s DOT [Department of Transportation chief] Rodney Slater allowed JetBlue to get the slots - knowing they were going to buy French jets.

A number of my fellow staffers - who worked on the law and had left the Hill - complained that the JetBlue decision was not within the spirit of the law: It was neither going to maximize passenger benefits nor buy American. But as we all know, the fidelity of the Clinton administration to the letter of the law was just not possible.

Our complaints fell on deaf ears. Here is just another illustration of the Clinton’s ‘empowering’ our enemies by inaction or insufficient action.â€

JetBlue, a low-fare, low-cost passenger airline that launched operations in February 2000, features roomy leather seats equipped with free live satellite television. Its travel agents work from their home computers.

The airline is doing well in a notoriously slow market, but not well enough to routinely rub its French connection in the face of an American public still stinging from that country’s antics before, during and after Operation Iraqi Freedom.

For its part, Airbus is careful to point out in its press releases that each order for its aircraft means a boost to the U.S. economy, as Airbus spends some 40 percent of its procurement budget with hundreds of suppliers in more than 40 U.S. states. In 2002 alone, Airbus spent $5.5 billion in U.S. contracts - more than it spent in any other country. Using U.S. Department of Commerce figures, that dollar amount translates into Airbus support of 120,000 American jobs.â€

Airbus prefers to tout not its its made-in-France airframe but its plans to build the world’s largest jetliner: a double-decker that will hold 555 passengers, 35 percent more than Boeing’s 33-year-old 747.

Meanwhile, Airbus chief executive Noel Forgeard sits in his top-floor office by the airport in Toulouse, France, watching Europe’s largest building taking shape across the runway. The new factory is the venue where the giant passenger jet will be constructed, thanks in generous measure to JetBlue.

Forgeard feels warmly toward his big customer across the Atlantic:

As JetBlue continues to conquer the odds, their repeated choice of Airbus aircraft proves that efficiency on all levels, including equipment and operations, is a must for an airline’s continuing health. With this [latest] order, JetBlue demonstrates that with the right people, the right product and the right cost structure, airlines can grow, even in this current, challenging, environment.â€

Not feeling so warmly are upset Americans who are sending e-mails to JetBlue voicing concern about its cozy relationship with Airbus.

One example: Has anyone told JetBlue that there is an American company located over there in Everett, Washington that makes perfectly good airplanes?â€

Editor''s note:

France Hates America and Is in Bed With Saddam - Boycott Cowardly France! Click Here Now!
 
This is an outrage! We must put an end to this unpatriotic support of those cowardly frogs--yes, a total boycott of French products is exactly what we need. We must pour our Bordeaux into the gutter, and hurl our empty containers of Freedom Fries at the nearest bistro or Air France office. And by all means, we must penalize JetBlue for daring to order Airbuses at a time like this.

But wait...737NGs are powered by CFM engines, which--as everyone knows--are half FRENCH! Sacre bleu!!!

What are we patriotic Americans to do? Clearly, the only solution is to restart production of the MD-80. Yes, that will teach those brie-eaters a lesson.
2.gif
 
Merci''
What a load of crap. Look around you next time you are on the highway. How many of your neighbors are driving American made autos? What kind of vin'' do you indulge in - probably not all from Napa Valley. Let''s not confuse patriotism with good business sense and the thing that made this country great - Freedom to make choices..
Perhaps all of the US air carriers should withdraw their service from France as well. Heaven forbid that we should carry these people and collect their Euros.
 
Carl Biersack is a paid lobbyist for Delta Air Lines.

You can draw your own conclusions on his motives and who''s whispering in his ear before he talks to the media. Either way, this is another feeble attempt by the opposition to try and take passengers away from jetBlue any way they can. Unfortunately for them the flying public has the attention span of a two-year old.
 
This Biersack fellow, clearly an aviation expert, has also apparently forgotten that Britain and Spain--among our few partners in the "coalition of the willing"--have been involved with Airbus since the first A300 rolled off the assembly line.

So basically, he's proposing that we deprive our allies--not to mention the American companies like GE and P&W who build key subcomponents of every Airbus--of revenue just to spite the French. Brilliant.
 
737NG''s have those pesky CFM engines made in France. At Least JetBlue had the forsight to have their A320''s with V2500, half English and Half American. If they had CFM''s on those airplanes God only knows. Whatever happened to good ole reliable GE or Pratt & Whitney''s of yesteryear.
 
This story is either insincere or invented. There's just NO way that FAA would consider what kind of aircraft a carrier flies when awarding slots. Perhaps somebody wishes bureaucrats would be that venal... but it's just not going to happen. It's rediculous. Also, I suspect that the kind of legislative action that is discussed in the article wouldn't be sufficient to overcome the potential illegality of that kind of discrimination. Surely, that would violate fair trade treaties. So, the fact that some staffer mentions over beers that he wishes that the words in a reappropriation would be interpreted to be anti-Airbus, doesn't mean that everything else, including common sense and fairness and treaties and (well, are there any constitutional scholars around?) goes out the window.
 
----------------
On 4/30/2003 10:14:25 AM eolesen wrote:

From NewsMax.Com

Tuesday, April 29, 2003

JetBlue Snubs U.S. Aircraft Companies (How many US are there?)

FAA rules, which were designed to discourage such foreign airliner purchases in the first place. ( The FAA do not care about which airliner you fly, as long as you do it safely)


Here is what Carl Biersack ( Who fail to mention he is paid by Delta):

"I was one of the congressional staffers who wrote the FAA Reauthorization that changed the rules at the slot-controlled airports. One of the conditions I put in the law was that the allocation of the slots would be based on the maximum contribution to America’s aviation system/infrastructure.

"This was meant to ensure that slots would go from those controlled airports to cities where there would be lots of passengers or to hubs because they will connect to many other cities, and, finally, it was meant to require carriers to buy American airplanes. ( BS alert on ultra high)

Clinton Again

"
"A number of my fellow staffers - complained that the JetBlue decision was not within the spirit of the law: It was neither going to maximize passenger benefits (What? It lowered fares and made it affordable to fly out of JFK, a ghost town during much of the day) nor buy American( Again, the FAA does not care) But as we all know, the fidelity of the Clinton administration to the letter of the law was just not possible. ( Oh, and I forgot to mention DAL pays me)

"Our complaints fell on deaf ears.( Complaints never previoulsy voiced) Here is just another illustration of the Clinton’s ‘empowering’ our enemies by inaction or insufficient action.â€￾

The airline is doing well in a notoriously slow market, but not well enough to routinely rub its French connection in the face of an American public still stinging from that country’s antics before, during and after Operation Iraqi Freedom. (jetBlue does not routinely rub itd french connection, but the writer sure likes too)

Meanwhile, Airbus chief executive Noel Forgeard sits in his top-floor office by the airport in Toulouse, France, watching Europe’s largest building taking shape across the runway. The new factory is the venue where the giant passenger jet will be constructed, thanks in generous measure to JetBlue ( Uhuh, you betcha, 44 airplanes has made this possible, not the 400 that US ordered, or the ones at UAL or NWA. Not even the ones ordered by the rest of the world. Nope, all due to jetBlue)


 
Its amazing how this country has become so its my way or the highway attitude just like our pres. If its that important why is our pres and govt still have favorite trading status with france??????????? Explain that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please off your horses and down to reality!
 
----------------
On 4/30/2003 3:53:42 PM Daedalus wrote:

Carl Biersack is a paid lobbyist for Delta Air Lines.

You can draw your own conclusions on his motives and who''s whispering in his ear before he talks to the media. Either way, this is another feeble attempt by the opposition to try and take passengers away from jetBlue any way they can. Unfortunately for them the flying public has the attention span of a two-year old.

----------------​

Of course he doesn''t mention this. Besides the obvious posturing, he would have to answer the question: Why is wrong for JetBlue to fly "French-made" (note the quotation marks) Airbus equipment when Delta maintains a world-wide airline alliance with Air France?
 
Its funny how the article fails to mention that JetBlue Airways is one of a very few airlines, or companies, to be hiring Americans. Hundreds of layed off airline employees are being hired by JetBlue every few months. It is also one of the few airlines to make a profit.

"One of the conditions I put in the law was that the allocation of the slots would be based on the maximum contribution to America’s aviation system/infrastructure."

Taking people off the unemployment line and putting them to work seems to me to be a "maximum contribution to America''s aviation." I think JBLU deserves more slots at JFK,BOS,& ORD.

#9
 
Heck yeah, it''s a problem for JB and any other Red Loving, anti-American, left wing, liberal media subscribing, Anti-Christ led, homosexual agenda embracing--maybe even homosexual themselves!--airline out there.

It''s all a vast underworld attempt to put Boeing out of business. Airbus is a plot by the governments of Europe (what with their socialist agenda in the "EU") to get back at the US for all the help we gave them in/after the last WW. Marshal Plan, Shmarshal Plan...they''re sure showing us now!

The really scary thing is that up north in You-Know-Where (this is a secret allusion to Harry Potter--another UK/EU plot to take over Amerika--if you know where, YUL know what I mean) there is a WHOLE factory (ON OUR CONTINENT!) making the CRJ...BOMB-bardier. Coincidence? I think not. They (the scoundrels) are "bomb-ing" Boeing. You know what CRJ means? Can''t Remember Jesus...those athiest French-speaking rats. (Thank God for the Brazilians and the ERJ which stands for Everybody Remembers Jesus!)

It''s obvious, if you speak French you''re going to ruin all the right thinking people in the world. What on Earth can we do?

Well...I''m glad you asked! Never, I mean NEVER fly jetBlue, USA 3000, Ryan Int''l, AirTran (they subserved RIA for 1 year), NWA, Frontier, AWA, UAL, AA, Virgin (why''d you fly them anyway, they''re British) and any other yellow-bellied airline that would fly that "airplane today, coke can tomorrow" ScareBus...yes, that''ll show Airbus who''s boss.

I''m sure glad my airline ONLY flies BOEING a/c. I surely can''t be Un-American, now, can I? (BTW--you might want to check the sub-contractor list for Boeing...you might be surprised at how much of an "American built airplane" is actually "American" built...and if it''s all actually Boeing...you be surprised at how much come with a side of "F.... Fries" if you know what I mean.)

Oh, and by the way...I heard from my friend, who''s butcher knows someone who once flew on jetBlue who lived in Toledo who was related to a guy in MIA who''s brother used to work for Eastern as a mechanic on the 727 that knew a factory rep (Boeing, I think) from Seattle who said that JB didn''t pay for their leases on the a/c they have or the maint. I''m sure it true...
 
----------------
On 5/1/2003 2:13:59 PM b727fa wrote:

Heck yeah, it''s a problem for JB and any other Red Loving, anti-American, left wing, liberal media subscribing, Anti-Christ led, homosexual agenda embracing--maybe even homosexual themselves!--airline out there.

:) Nuke the gay, commie, tree hugging whales for Jesus.
Did I leave anyone out?