Boeing / Airbus love fest

Here's a piece of trade news I hadn't expected.

There's been more bad blood between the aircraft manufacturers Boeing and Airbus than there ever was between the Montagues & the Capulets, the Lancastrians & the Yorkists, or, on a more contemporary footing, Ken Livingstone and the Evening Standard!

So what a surprise to read that:

Boeing and Airbus have signed an agreement to work together to ensure global interoperability in air traffic management as part of an effort to help reduce the impact of aviation on the environment.

The companies will seek the acceleration of improvements to the world's air transportation management system in order to increase efficiency and eliminate traffic congestion.

Scott Carson, Boeing Commercial Airplanes president and CEO, and Tom Enders, Airbus president and CEO, signed the agreement between the two industry leaders at the sidelines of the third Aviation and Environmental Summit in Geneva.

"Airbus and Boeing are great competitors, and this has been a critical element that has sharpened our focus and efforts toward making aviation more efficient," Carson said. "While our approaches often differ, we are working towards the same goal -- to reduce aviation's environmental impact."

"I am convinced technology and innovation hold the key to reducing aviation's environmental impact and increasing eco-efficiency," Enders said. "And competition is a great motivator for this. Where Boeing and Airbus share a common position on the environment and safety, it is in all our interests that we cooperate to achieve our common goals more quickly."

...feather smashes writer to the ground!