From the "Are You Surprised?" Department

It's been widely announced that Airbus is, as expected, going to announce a complete redesign of the A350, a subject that's been up in the air ever since it began to emerge last year that the design that was being shopped to potential customers was something of a warmed over piece of hardware.

Let me be specific. The now departed A350 was offered to the airline buyers with Gallic nonchalance: "the customer can take it or leave it alone but because we say it is infinitely superieur, they will take it and like it, even if it is a few years late."

Well, they didn't. The customers stayed away in droves while, to put it bluntly, the competition was beating the pants off of Airbus, despite a steady stream of red herrings from Festung Airbus about the competition's technology being underdeveloped and dangereuse.

As if that wasn't bad enough, there was a simultaneous meltdown in the A380 Albatross program, which may end up being a lot worse than anyone thinks. The Great Satan, Richard Aboulafia, suggests that there is far too much development money chasing far too small a share of the market for new aircraft un the ultra jumbo category. Perhaps he is right.

One thing's for sure-that's another program where the customers have stayed away in droves.

All in all, Farnborough should be verrrrrrrrry intereschtink, as they used to say on Hogan's Heroes.

One thing's for sure. There is much more interesting stuff coming out of France right now, and that's The Tour. If you have to ask "what tour?" You've been away too long.