Business FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2014 Airbus test-flies less-thirsty A320neo TOULOUSE: Airbus yesterday sent its new A320neo-an updat- The European planemaker has orders from 60 customers current A320s in service, a significant selling point for airlines ed, more fuel-efficient version of its hugely popular medium- for 3,257 of the A320neos after they start to be delivered in in the cutthroat medium-haul sector. haul A320 passenger plane-into the skies on its first of several October 2015, Airbus chief operating officer John Leahy told The neo boasts aerodynamic improvements including little test flights before deliveries next year to waiting customers. reporters. The stated catalogue price is between $94 million curved winglets, trimmed weight and more efficient engines. The narrow-body, two-engined aircraft took off from and $120 million (74 million and 94 million euros) each, Airbus says its current version of the A320 family, which Toulouse-Blagnac airport in southwest France where Airbus is depending on configuration, but is often discounted. includes the smaller A319 and bigger A321, has 60 percent of headquartered for a two-hour flight, an AFP reporter wit- The plane-whose “neo” designation stands for “new engine the medium-haul market, ahead of US rival Boeing with its 737 nessed. option”-is designed to consume 15 percent less fuel than the aircraft. — AFP TOULOSE: Airbus employees look at Airbus A320neo taking off for its first test flight, yesterday in Blagnac near Toulouse. — AFP Air France pilots dig in despite offer to GlaxoSmithKline names scrap low-cost plans RBS’s Hampton as head PARIS: Air France pilots refused to budge yesterday after man- agement offered to scrap plans to expand its low-cost sub- Appointment comes amid pressure for change sidiary, as their strike became the longest ever at Europe’s sec- ond-largest flag carrier. The striking pilots brushed off calls to LONDON: GlaxoSmithKline said yesterday it had chosen scandal, which forced GSK to make an abject apology to return to the skies, leaving half the fleet grounded for an 11th day running, as they sought to push management even fur- Philip Hampton, who currently chairs Royal Bank of the Chinese people last week. Investors have become ther at talks later yesterday. Scotland, as its next chairman. Hampton will be taking the increasingly disillusioned with GSK’s management in the The company proposed “the immediate withdrawal” of helm at Britain’s biggest drugmaker at a testing time. GSK past year and the company’s shares have lagged badly. plans to expand Transavia Europe on the continent, but said it was hit last week by a record $489 million fine in China for While the European healthcare sector has risen by around would pursue the development of the low-cost airline in bribing doctors and has warned on profits in 2014 due to a fifth this year on optimism over new drugs, GSK shares France. It called for pilots to return to work “immediately”, to weak sales of its core respiratory drugs. have lost 11 percent as forecasts for its sales and earnings end a dispute that has crippled the airline at a cost of 20 mil- He will join the board in January, become deputy chair- have fallen. lion euros ($25 million) a day. But the main pilots union SNPL said it had made a “counter-offer” that would be discussed as man on April 1 and chairman with effect from Sept. 1, 2015 talks resume later yesterday. Many Air France pilots, who earn - or earlier if released from other commitments. He will Parachuted in up to 250,000 euros a year, are angry at the plans to develop leave RBS during 2015 and the bank said the process for Hampton has been chairman of RBS since 2009 when he Transavia, which currently serves holiday destinations across selecting his successor was being managed by the board’s was parachuted in to help rescue the bank following its 45 Europe and the Mediterranean. They fear management will nominations committee. billion pounds ($74 billion) bailout during the financial cri- eventually seek to replace Air France flights with services oper- A person close to the process had previously said that sis. He has previously said that a chairman should typically ated by Transavia, whose pilots earn considerably less. Hampton was set to be named as GSK’s chairman this serve between five and seven years at a listed company week. Reuters reported on Monday that GSK was under and is expected to stay at RBS until a successor is appoint- ‘Into the red’ The withdrawal of plans to expand Transavia will come as a pressure to make changes, including a possible early ed, according to industry sources. blow to the airline’s efforts to be more competitive in the replacement of current Chairman Chris Gent, as a result of Hampton has led RBS, which is 80-percent owned by the crowded and changing European skies, increasingly dominat- its problems, which have undermined investor confidence. British government, through a turbulent period of transi- ed by no-frills airlines. The MEDEF employers association said Gent, best-known for leading mobile phone company tion during which it shed assets worth 1 trillion pounds to the conflict at Air France — 16 percent state-owned-encapsu- Vodafone during a period of rapid growth, has chaired GSK rid itself of toxic loans built up during a period of aggres- lated the malaise gripping the country’s crisis-hit economy. for nine years. He was due to retire by the end of 2015 and sive lending in the run-up to the financial crisis. The union action is “again dragging a company into the red,” the drugmaker said it had been planning for his succession However, the bank’s attempts to return to health have said MEDEF vice-president Jean-Francois Pillard. “For those who want to invest or travel in France, this does not con- over the last two years. been held back by the legacy of past misconduct, which tribute, at an already extremely difficult time, to improving the Naming a new chairman may be seen as a sign that included fines of $612 million for the fixing of benchmark image of the country,” he said. change is coming at GSK to address shareholder concerns interest rates and accusations over how it treated strug- Air France has already implemented an ambitious restruc- over both the China affair and the company’s recent poor gling small firms. Hampton had hoped to oversee the start turing plan to reduce costs and improve efficiency. “Low-cost financial performance. As the new chairman, a key task for of RBS’s return to full private ownership but that prospect airlines now represent between 25 and 45 percent of air traffic Hampton will be to steer the group back to sustainable is still seen to be several years away with its shares trading in Europe, depending on the country,” said Didier Brechemier, growth and, in the long term, to find an eventual successor well below the price the government bought them at, leav- an aviation expert at consultants Roland Berger. Irish low-cost airline Ryanair will soon expand its fleet to to Chief Executive Andrew Witty, who was appointed by ing taxpayers sitting on a loss of 13 billion pounds. Before 400, which would take it above Air France’s stable of 350 air- Gent and has been in the job since 2008. RBS, Hampton chaired supermarket chain Sainsbury and craft. —AFP Witty has been viewed as a star manager for much of his was previously group finance director at Lloyds TSB, BT six-year tenure but he has been damaged by the China Group, BG Group, British Gas and British Steel. — Reuters.