PARIS — The Arianespace launch consortium posted its first-ever net loss in 2000, paying the price for operating two launch pads simultaneously while not being able to launch the heaviest commercial satellites two at a time.
Arianespace officials announced Jan. 10 that while their year 2000 accounts will not be final until the spring, they expect the company to report a net loss of about 200 million euros {$190 million} on sales of 1.1 billion euros ($1.0 billion).
"We are launching the last of our Ariane 4 vehicles and the first — and most expensive batch — of Ariane 5 launchers," Arianespace Chairman Jean-Marie Luton said in explaining the loss. "Operating both Ariane 4 and Ariane 5 simultaneously has its costs, but we wanted to be able to guarantee our availability to our customers."
The heavy-lift Ariane 5 rockets now being launched are part of the first batch of 14 rockets Arianespace ordered from its industrial contractors in the mid 1990s. Arianespace and its contractors agreed to a 35-percent price reduction for the second batch of 20 rockets, with a further 15-percent drop expected for the third batch order.
Also hurting Arianespace's bottom line is the fact that the company has had to pay for some of the Ariane 5 development costs that originally were expected to be financed by European governments. Those governments insisted Arianespace contribute to the Ariane 5 development program because of the increased costs associated with fixing the problems that led to the failure of the vehicle's maiden launch in June 1996.
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