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TOKYO, JAPAN - THE head of European aeronautics group EADS, the manufacturer of Airbus, said on Friday he hoped the new A380 would give the company a slice of the Japanese market, a stronghold of US rival Boeing Co.
'Airbus has 50 per cent of the global market and four percent of the Japanese market. Something's amiss and everyone ought to get to work on it,' EADS chief executive Louis Gallois told reporters in Tokyo, where he was accompanying French Prime Minister Francois Fillon.
Japan's major airlines, Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways (ANA), buy almost exclusively from Boeing, which has longstanding supply contracts with Japanese heavy industry makers.
Mr Gallois said he hoped the airlines would buy the new A380 superjumbo, the largest plane in flight.
ANA is the launch customer for Boeing's rival project - the next-generation, fuel-efficient Dreamliner - but has voiced frustration over delays.
Mr Fillon pushed for Japan to buy Airbus during his talks Friday with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.
'The prime minister has been extremely efficient and aggressive on this issue,' Mr Gallois said.
'Industry has to do its job too, but there's a climate that needs to be created and the prime minister has done so remarkably.' -- AFP
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