“Your A300 is a good plane, but you’ll never make it. What is Europe? You are nice people, but it’s difficult to have faith in your cooperative programme.” That is the way Franck Kolk, the technical director of American Airlines and a strong supporter of the twin-engine wide-body formula, reacted to an Airbus presentation in the early 1970s. To create a truly multinational, credible new force in the aerospace industry was no less innovative than to develop a new aircraft breed.

To turn the cultural diversity that had created so many problems in the past into a competitive advantage was the challenge. “Our worst enemies are the national egos,” stated Roger Béteille, the Airbus director general. And thanks to a small multinational group of leaders such as Henri Ziegler, Franz Josef Strauss, Roger Béteille and Felix Kracht, step by step an Airbus culture has emerged beyond the national habits.

One highly innovative and symbolic step was the acceptance by all partners of one single assembly line and one single test flight department in Toulouse. “OK,” said Günter Scherer, one of the German managers, “but this facility must not be reserved for France. It must become common to all partners.” That is exactly what happened.

Today Airbus has become a global extended enterprise with facilities all around the world from China to Russia, India and the United States. Its supply chain extends over some 80 countries. The Airbus spirit has spread worldwide. The truly multicultural Airbus teams ensure that the company is perfectly placed to understand the needs of customers, suppliers and industry stakeholders in every corner of the world and to capitalise on the opportunities that these needs create.

However, this has not been built overnight. “Cooperation is a real job, and it takes time to learn it,” Felix Kracht, the Airbus industrial director, used to say in the 1970s. As Felix Kracht anticipated, Airbus had to learn how to work together and to listen to each other. This is a long process, especially when you have to invent new ways at every stage. Over the years, Airbus has developed new technologies that are now becoming world standards, and also new industrial processes and innovative managerial organisations to foster European cooperation and offer the most modern fleet in the world.

When Airbus started, there was virtually no way to create a European joint-venture company that would protect the interests of the partners and give a strong long-term guarantee to the customers. Airbus innovated here by using the GIE (Economic Interest Grouping) formula for the first time in the aerospace industry. This legal arrangement permitted the company to centralise marketing, sales, engineering, flight test and support, so the customers have only one interface, while the partners kept control of the finance and of their industrial facilities.

The GIE based in Toulouse has been the focal point of the Airbus cooperative adventure for three decades. That is where the Airbus spirit has been shaped and from which it has spread towards the partners.

By the turn of the century, things had radically changed. Airbus had become a well established industry leader. It was delivering to the world market an extended range of aircraft. And, on its side, the European Union had made very significant progress towards the integration and harmonisation of rules. For Airbus, it was time to go a step further and to form a truly European, multinational, integrated company.

It was clear in the mind of all Airbus partners that creating an integrated company to coordinate the industrial facilities of Airbus across France, Germany, the UK and Spain was a prerequisite for the launch of the planned ultra-high capacity aircraft project, the A3XX. So, in the year 2000, the creation of Airbus Integrated Company and the launching of the A3XX – which later changed its designation into the A380 – were decided simultaneously.

This decisive step harmonised the relationships between the various units and allowed Airbus to set up new common working standards and working tools throughout the company and its main suppliers in Europe.

Airbus, built on its ability to draw on the best that Europe had to offer, is now using its vast experience to create a global extended enterprise and to bring together the best from around the world.

In recent years, Airbus has established centres in the United States, China, India and Russia. What is certainly even more important for the future is that Airbus has started tapping into the hundreds of thousands young engineering graduates trained in emerging countries to complement its existing R&T teams.

“Fly your ideas,” the world student competition launched in late 2008, is certainly an emblematic Airbus initiative. To participate in the contest, students from all around the world were asked to develop creative ideas that can shape the future of aviation and deliver further reductions in the industry’s impact on the environment. More than 2,350 students from 82 countries entered the competition. Out of the 225 teams that were competing, five gathering – respectively – students from Spain, Australia, Singapore and the United States have been selected for the grand finale that takes place at the 2009 Paris Air Show.

At a time when manufacturers realise the value of a multinational, multicultural organisation, Airbus – which has the longest experience in this field – is again setting up new, innovative ways to boost cooperation worldwide and for the long term. Airbus is building a global network of talents who will pursue the work of its pioneers and contribute to the development of new innovations that will become tomorrow’s standards.

The fact that exactly 40 years after its creation, Airbus has delivered its first aircraft assembled outside Europe, in Tianjin (China), is certainly the most symbolic and visible aspect of the Airbus internationalisation, as well as Airbus’ spirit. Employing some 52,000 people from over 80 different nationalities, Airbus has been able to integrate the cultural diversity. Today, Airbus has become a world leader pulled by a common vision: New Standards. Together.