You are a lawyer in the development of China

Is your rejection of the A380 final

With a hundred aircraft, we are the first customer for the Airbus widebody and we have been very involved in the development of the A380. We have therefore not taken this decision lightly. But the successive delays would eventually prevent FedEx to cope with the increase in demand. This was acceptable for our customers or our shareholders. We had to make a choice in the knowledge that it is virtually impossible at the same time introducing two new models of aircraft in our fleet. Because beyond the device, it must invest in the infrastructure on the ground, equipment, support and training. Short term, this would not make sense to parallel the A380 and the Boeing 777 just to order. That said, our market demand continues to grow and someday if the A380 provides solutions, we focus on it once again.

Is it essential to maintain a balance between two providers

It is the interest of everyone that Airbus and Boeing are developing and we can choose between two or three suppliers of reactors. We do not base our purchasing decisions based on this, but this reality is necessarily present in the minds of all.

Is the A380 freighter version it doomed

It is too early to answer. I flew on this plane that remains technologically excellent but who is affected by production problems. Since the launch of the project, there was both more competitive and delays. Boeing responded by launching two projects, the F 777 and 747-8 and the delays have been very difficult. Air France was the launch customer for the 777F and Emirates has cancelled its orders for the A380 freighter before us.

We had to in turn make a decision but it could help stabilize Airbus. The efforts made for the freighter version are not lost, they can be used to develop a version more widebody or long-range version passengers. Finally, we have released for production slots that will perhaps allow Airbus to deliveries of the passenger version of good rail.

Will your internationalization give a new face to FedEx

In ten to fifteen years, FedEx will be FedEx. Developments will be at the margin as we follow a model that runs on a growing market. We do not need to reinvent ourselves. What is sure it is that we will be, the image of the world, increasingly more global, and we will build more and more on technology.

You sometimes say that the economy weighs less and less, and that it benefits at FedEx. What do you mean by that

It is Alan Greenspan (former President of the US Central Bank) explained that since the end of the second world war, the US economy was multiplied by five but that the total weight of what we produce is unchanged. Beyond the development of services, using new materials, is miniaturised, is more development of high value-added electronic products... Result, there is more need to carry the goods as at the time of the British Empire.

Before a computer was the size of a room and do not easily carried today, a laptop is in a small box that can carry without concern by plane. More products are small and high value-added, more can afford to make further and rely on transport as actors. Value of this we transport by air is approximately 108,000 dollars per tonne, which is transported by sea is on average 2.700 dollars per tonne, and the road only 1,400 dollars.

Will the trend increase in the price of oil not disrupt things

The evolution of the transportation costs of course has a macroeconomic impact. If the energy was becoming too expensive, use more shipping, less air transport. Companies should learn to otherwise manage obsolescence. Markets and logistics adapt. But my personal opinion is that without a political crisis international major, the price of oil increases disproportionately over the coming decade.

On the one hand, there was massive investment in new capacity for extraction. Those who have invested will want to sell in now reasonable returns on investment. On the other, China is to consume less, and here, the new democratic majority Congress could adopt a new law on energy conservation-oriented. In the long term, advances in technology will help to save or find alternative energies.

It is true that they must act, but we already have. During the oil shock of the mid-1975, under the Ford administration, we have adopted laws that allowed to absorb the shock. Between 1975 and 1995 we have become more efficient by using two times less energy to get a point of additional growth. But since the mid-1990s we stagnant. Our cars have become they also increasingly effective but at the same time they also became more and more large. Today, it must impose new goals of consumption per kilometre.

You are a lawyer in the development of China. Isn't this a little easier for you who do not have to suffer the rise of Chinese competitors

Since the end of the 1970s and the statements made by Deng Xiaoping explaining that there was nothing shameful to be rich, we have seen to something unique. The transition of China is outstanding. There are pockets of problems but this country has become a gigantic locomotive of the global economy. Many people who benefit from. Consumers in developed countries are daily savings.

At the local level, on the other hand, Chinese competition can have painful consequences. At the global level, it plays on the rise on the price of raw materials... I do not deny. But that one is for or against, China is a fact. Which is better Back at the time of the cold war or to ensure that this market opens As China is enriched and be more oriented towards economic issues to geopolitical issues is a good thing.

Do you fear a protectionist reaction on the part of the new Democratic Congress

Plants move and locally, this may be hard to accept. It is normal that some make noise. But is it to much to reverse the trend of globalization and the integration of the economies Do you really believe that tomorrow could happen to buy semiconductor Taiwan or electronics "made in China" Could the opposite happen to sell airplanes Boeing and Airbus, Vuitton Handbags or other things to the Chinese

The economy is global and in fact resistance are on three points: agriculture, financial services and intellectual property. France especially, but also Europe and the United States are of the resistance on the agricultural front. Farmers have the power and the fight against globalization, today, above all it is. Democrats will not just block. They will demand of counterparties in terms of preservation of the environment or for the defence of employees affected by relocations, but on what is already globalised there is not a movement to stop globalization. Other issues, such as agriculture, will require that some have questions in terms of morality.

The US economy would today give signs of slowing down, are you worried

The information circulate today much better; This allows a faster and more accurate view of sales and inventory levels. Before, it took some time for the information back shops to factories. Adjustments and corrections were longer, which necessarily had an impact on the duration and magnitude of recessions. Today the economy is both more comprehensive but also more reactive.

There will be still volatile and difficult periods in particular for areas subject to strong variations in the price of raw materials, as the automobile, or rates of interest, such as real estate, but overall I'm not recession planning. It goes to a landing smoothly to a "hard landing".