Rejection for Fokker rescue plan

The Dutch government has rejected the survival plan that has been put forward for Fokker by the ailing plane maker's German parent company Daimler Benz Aerospace, writes Russell Hotten.

Hans Wijers, Dutch economics minister, said the package was inadequate and told DASA to come back with a new long-term strategy.

The business plan mentioned possible alliances with European and North American regional aircraft manufacturers. It is thought that British Aerospace was prepared to take on some work for Fokker.

But the Dutch economics ministry is reported to have found the plan "lacking in all fundamental aspects necessary to judge whether there was any point in spending hundreds of millions of guilders in taxpayers' money on Fokker".

In the survival plan, leaked to a Dutch newspaper on Tuesday, Fokker requested 2.3 billion guilders (pounds 933m) in aid from DASA and the Dutch state, its other large shareholder.

With the cash and credit facilities Fokker expects to return to profit in 1996, but it first sees a loss of 1.03 billion guilders this year, the worst result in its 75-year existence.