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CNN Live Sunday
U.S. Shuns Paris Air Show
Aired June 15, 2003 - 18:52 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Thousands of spectators craned their necks at today's start of the Paris Air Show but despite impressive aerial acrobatics the show has less punch this year. In a move widely viewed as retaliation for France's opposition to the war against Iraq, the Pentagon barred its generals from attending.
CNN's Richard Quest has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Paris Air Show, home to the aerial acrobatics. This year, though, don't look for any U.S. top guns in the sky. The U.S. government decided not to take part, even banning their generals from turning up.
Another open secret that no one will admit and Washington denies is that U.S. companies were pressured to scale back their presence. It has cut American participation here by at least a third and left the Paris organizers turning some diplomatic cartwheels of their own.
YVES BONNET, PARIS AIR SHOW ORGANIZER: The reasons which were given to us were only economical reasons and no political. I am not to say my opinion about that.
QUEST: The problem is that the evidence is obvious. No top U.S. chief executive is here. Boeing, though, denies it's been (unintelligible) by the government.
JIM ALBAUGH, BOEING INTEGRATED DEFENSE SYSTEMS: The reason our size is down this year is because most of our customers are not here and if our customers are not here from the Pentagon, we're not here.
QUEST: Cause and effect.
ALBAUGH: Cause and effect.
QUEST: The aviation industry is still in deep trouble which makes this action by the American government all the more difficult to understand because ultimately U.S. companies will feel the pinch.
KEIRAN DALY, FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL: You can't seriously say to a Lockheed-Martin or a Honeywell or somebody don't sell your equipment to the Europeans. Anybody can understand that's bad news for the U.S.
QUEST: All of this is likely to leave a sour taste in both mouths and shows there's still much diplomatic repair work to be done. (on camera): So, perhaps, there are now two sides to this conflict, those U.S. politicians that want to keep the anti-French feeling alive, and on the other side the U.S. corporations that want to get back to business as normal. With the aviation industry in crisis, they need every contract they can get.
Richard Quest, CNN, at the Paris Air Show.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired June 15, 2003 - 18:52 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Thousands of spectators craned their necks at today's start of the Paris Air Show but despite impressive aerial acrobatics the show has less punch this year. In a move widely viewed as retaliation for France's opposition to the war against Iraq, the Pentagon barred its generals from attending.
CNN's Richard Quest has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Paris Air Show, home to the aerial acrobatics. This year, though, don't look for any U.S. top guns in the sky. The U.S. government decided not to take part, even banning their generals from turning up.
Another open secret that no one will admit and Washington denies is that U.S. companies were pressured to scale back their presence. It has cut American participation here by at least a third and left the Paris organizers turning some diplomatic cartwheels of their own.
YVES BONNET, PARIS AIR SHOW ORGANIZER: The reasons which were given to us were only economical reasons and no political. I am not to say my opinion about that.
QUEST: The problem is that the evidence is obvious. No top U.S. chief executive is here. Boeing, though, denies it's been (unintelligible) by the government.
JIM ALBAUGH, BOEING INTEGRATED DEFENSE SYSTEMS: The reason our size is down this year is because most of our customers are not here and if our customers are not here from the Pentagon, we're not here.
QUEST: Cause and effect.
ALBAUGH: Cause and effect.
QUEST: The aviation industry is still in deep trouble which makes this action by the American government all the more difficult to understand because ultimately U.S. companies will feel the pinch.
KEIRAN DALY, FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL: You can't seriously say to a Lockheed-Martin or a Honeywell or somebody don't sell your equipment to the Europeans. Anybody can understand that's bad news for the U.S.
QUEST: All of this is likely to leave a sour taste in both mouths and shows there's still much diplomatic repair work to be done. (on camera): So, perhaps, there are now two sides to this conflict, those U.S. politicians that want to keep the anti-French feeling alive, and on the other side the U.S. corporations that want to get back to business as normal. With the aviation industry in crisis, they need every contract they can get.
Richard Quest, CNN, at the Paris Air Show.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
