Are fluctuations in the American market that critical
to the German manufacturers? I genuinely don't know
- but America is a fairly small gliding country (with
a roughly similar number of glider pilots to UK that
has 20% of the US population) compared to the whole
of Europe. There are still long waiting lists for
'German' gliders.

John Galloway

At 14:36 10 January 2004, Vorsanger1 wrote:
Eureopean manufacture will not die. The actual manufacture
will just move to
areas of lower costs...just like 'back office' jobs
of US companies are
acutally located in India and the Philippines. This
already in place as the
production of 'German' gliders is actually taking place
in Slovenia and other
countries. Also, I would imagine that there is a large
enough demand in Europe
to keep companies in business for a while longer, at
least until the cycle is
completed, the Euro drops, US$ strengthens, and Americans
start buying
sailplanes again...

Cheers, Charles