Regular readers of Eye will be aware of the heavyweight lobbying undertaken by the Japanese government in support of the IEP.
Why the Prime Minister of Japan even phoned iDave to bend his ear and stress the importance of the deal.
Clearly this had nothing to do with Petrol-head's disappointing decision to ignore the findings of the Foster Review and award a contract for trains that nobody wants to Hitachi.
So far so sad.
Meanwhile, in happier news, this from Aviation Week...
Airbus is poised to sign off on a new order for the A380 super jumbo with Skymark Airlines, a Japanese low-cost carrier, its top salesman, John Leahy, said Feb. 16 in Paris.
Skymark—which would be the first airline from Japan and the first no-frills carrier to acquire the A380—said it would introduce the initial [4] aircraft in spring 2014 for domestic services and the others in 2014-16 for domestic and long-haul flights.
Fortunately Railway Eye knows nothing about aviation and is therefore unlikely to question why a low cost Japanese domestic airline should suddenly invest lots of Yen in A380 super jumbos.
And it would be particularly churlish not to celebrate this ground breaking deal, what with Airbus A380 engines being British made by Rolls Royce... in Derby.
Just fancy that!
UPDATE: This from 5741 Duck...
You ask why a low cost Japanese domestic airline should suddenly invest lots of Yen in A380 super jumbos?
Three words: short fat sectors.
Japan has several large cities that aren't that far apart and shifting 853 people in one plane makes sense.
Though I've no idea if that's how Skymark plans to use them...
UPDATE: This from @Al_S, via Twitter...
Not just the RR engines from the UK.
All Airbus passenger jet wings are made at Broughton, North Wales
UPDATE: This from Banker76...
Airbus may just be the start.
Watch next for a deal in which the Japanese air force agrees to buy some of those Typhoons the RAF can no longer afford to crew or to fly.
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