LE BOURGET, France, June 19 (Reuters) – Fancy travelling from Paris to Tokyo in less than three hours? Do you yearn for the Concorde days?

Aerospace group EADS (EAD.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), owner of planemaker Airbus, thinks it has come up with the answer — a hypersonic jet that flies above the atmosphere yet still takes off from a regular runway. “It is not a Concorde but it looks like a Concorde, showing that aerodynamics of the 1960s were already very smart,” Jean Botti, EADS Chief Technical officer said.

By flying above the atmosphere and using biofuel to get the plane off the ground intially, the group hopes to avoid the supersonic boom and pollution Concorde was notorious for.

“When you are above the atmosphere nobody hears anything,” Botti said.

The plane, being developed in collaboration with Japan, is being primarily designed with the business market in mind and could carry 50 to 100 passengers.

The concept project, known as ZEHST (zero emission high speed transport), comes as companies like Virgin Galactic push forward with plans to take paying customers up on commercial space flights. Indeed, the ZEHST is being developed using research from EADS space arm Astrium.

Unlike those Virgin Galactic customers, EADS says the ZEHST would have a maximum acceleration of 1.2g, meaning passengers will not need any training in order to fly.

LE BOURGET, France (Reuters) – Europe’s delayed and over-budget military transport plane suffered yet another embarrassing setback on Sunday when manufacturer Airbus was forced to curtail its debut appearance at the Paris Air Show.

The Airbus (EAD.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) A400M military airlifter suffered a gearbox problem in one of its powerful turbo-props days before the world’s largest air show and will not now be able to carry out its daring display routine in front of aviation enthusiasts.

Airbus officials said the future European troop plane, which was bailed out with 3.5 billion euros ($4.96 billion) by purchasing nations last year, would take part in a flypast on Monday to mark the show’s opening but then be placed on static display.

“This is not a problem with safety, but flight test requirements are very demanding at the moment,” Airbus Military Chief Executive Domingo Urena-Raso said.

Airbus did not give an estimate for the cost or time involved in fixing the problem, but did not indicate any change in its target to make the first delivery in early 2013.

The A400M has been developed at a cost of more than 20 billion euros for Britain, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey. It is running four years late due to problems in building the West’s largest turbo-prop engines and other snags.

The aircraft has been flying since December 2009 but this week’s appearance is the plane’s first at the prestigious Paris event.

LE BOURGET, France (Reuters) – Europe needs to co-operate on the next generation of military drones or it will repeat costly divisions which led to rival combat jets competing for the same orders, aerospace group EADS warned on Sunday.

The warning on the eve of the Paris Air Show follows a decision by Britain and France to push other defense companies into working on an armed drone, which could leave an alternative project in which EADS (EAD.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is involved out in the cold.

“We are not pleased by the development that we have two potentially competing projects in Europe, where obviously Europe is not a position to come up with 300 million euros ($425 million) for the next few years to develop one project,” Stefan Zoller, head of EADS’ defense and security unit Cassidian, said.

EADS has spent years developing the Talarion unmanned aerial vehicle at its own expense in the hope of winning an order from the project’s instigators France, Germany and Spain.

However, France’s Dassault Aviation (AVMD.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Britain’s BAE Systems (BAES.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) have stepped up plans for their own drone under a Franco-British defense pact signed last year, provoking anger and frustration from EADS.

“Why abandon such a project… to redo it all again? From my perspective, it’s ridiculous,” Zoller told journalists.

“We are ready to go,” he said. “It’s a pity that what you see on the European side, again, is potential competition that will delay the execution of such programmes.”

PARIS, June 19 (Reuters) – Airbus has confirmed plans to delay availability of some A350 aircraft to allow time to develop a bigger engine, opening up a second front in a market share battle with Boeing (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) on the eve of the Paris Air Show.

The European planemaker is bowing to customer demand for a more effective challenge to Boeing’s 777-300ER long-range airliner, a 365-seater which has notched up sales of more than 500 planes compared with 75 for the largest type of A350.

“It is pretty well known that several leading airlines were encouraging us to get more range and payload. I think most of the world’s airlines will be delighted with this airplane,” Airbus sales chief John Leahy told reporters.

Under a deal with Rolls-Royce (RR.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the engine maker will increase the thrust on its Trent XWB engine for the A350-1000 model to 97,000 pounds from 93,000, marking its most powerful civil engine and the biggest engine ever to power an Airbus.

That will allow the 350-seat plane to fly 400 nautical miles (740 km) further and tackle new routes like Paris-Santiago. it will carry 4.5 tonnes more payload or passengers and cargo — a key requirement from Gulf airlines which ordered the airplane.

However it will mean entry into service will be pushed back by 18 months to mid-2017. A smaller version of the plane, the A350-800, will be delayed by two years to 2016 but the first delivery of the most-sold A350-900 model remains at end-2013.

Mark King, president of civil aerospace at Rolls-Royce, said the development of a bigger engine with changes to the hottest part of the engine, or the core, would involve more money but that Rolls had been granted exclusivity on the A350-1000.

PARIS/NEW YORK (Reuters) – At the best hotels, the new luxury is the old luxury: service.

In the post-recession world, high-end hoteliers’ investments are shifting away from fancy freebies like lotion and soap and toward expert service that reflects a real understanding of the guest’s preferences, executives told the Reuters Global Luxury and Fashion Summit this week.

“There was a time when you couldn’t go into a luxury hotel room without walking into the bathroom and being bewildered by the amenities … on the sink,” said Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc Chief Executive Officer Laurence Geller.

The recession caused the company to take a much closer look at what it offered in each room, deciding what current items guests would not miss and which additional ones they would pay for.

“Amenities don’t impress,” said Geller, whose company owns and manages luxury hotels under the Four Seasons, Intercontinental and other brands. “What comes down to it every time is service.”

Societe des Bains de Mer, which runs four hotels and five casinos in the flashy principality of Monaco, is training staffers to recognize customers so they can greet them personally.

“It’s a smile at reception, calling the guest by their name, serving breakfast on time, not making any mistakes with the bill,” SBM Chief Executive Bernard Lambert told the Paris leg of the summit.

PARIS/NEW YORK (Reuters) – At the best hotels, the new luxury is the old luxury: service.

In the post-recession world, high-end hoteliers’ investments are shifting away from fancy freebies like lotion and soap and toward expert service that reflects a real understanding of the guest’s preferences, executives told the Reuters Global Luxury and Fashion Summit this week.

“There was a time when you couldn’t go into a luxury hotel room without walking into the bathroom and being bewildered by the amenities … on the sink,” said Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc (BEE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Chief Executive Officer Laurence Geller.

The recession caused the company to take a much closer look at what it offered in each room, deciding what current items guests would not miss and which additional ones they would pay for.

“Amenities don’t impress,” said Geller, whose company owns and manages luxury hotels under the Four Seasons, Intercontinental and other brands. “What comes down to it every time is service.”

Societe des Bains de Mer (BAIN.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), which runs four hotels and five casinos in the flashy principality of Monaco, is training staffers to recognize customers so they can greet them personally.

“It’s a smile at reception, calling the guest by their name, serving breakfast on time, not making any mistakes with the bill,” SBM Chief Executive Bernard Lambert told the Paris leg of the summit.

PARIS (Reuters) – Designer Diane von Furstenberg, famous for her floral prints and wrap dresses, is developing a perfume, a cosmetics range and a home line in a bid to rebuild a fashion empire she can pass on to her descendants.

The designer, who bought back her own brand in the late 1990s after it went dormant with licence-holders, told the Reuters Global Luxury and Fashion Summit her company was growing healthily, generating an estimated $1 billion in annual sales.

“I want to leave a legacy, something behind … I want to leave something that will last after me,” Furstenberg told the summit in Paris.

“Already my granddaughter wants to be me and is better than me,” Furstenberg said.

The designer, who is also president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, said she had given the company to her daughter and son but retained effective control through golden shares.

Furstenberg was in Paris to prepare the September launch of her perfume called “Diane.” She teamed up with a little-known French company called ID Beauty which will also develop her cosmetics line.

“I went with a small company because I thought they would work really hard for me and they’re very good in skincare,” she explained, sporting an iPad with a leather cover based on her very first print.

PARIS (Reuters) – Designer Diane von Furstenberg, famous for her floral prints and wrap dresses, is developing a perfume, a cosmetics range and a home line in a bid to rebuild a fashion empire she can pass on to her descendants.

The designer, who bought back her own brand in the late 1990s after it went dormant with license-holders, told the Reuters Global Luxury and Fashion Summit her company was growing healthily, generating an estimated $1 billion in annual sales.

“I want to leave a legacy, something behind … I want to leave something that will last after me,” Furstenberg told the summit in Paris.

“Already my granddaughter wants to be me and is better than me,” Furstenberg said.

The designer, who is also president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, said she had given the company to her daughter and son but retained effective control through golden shares.

Furstenberg was in Paris to prepare the September launch of her perfume called “Diane.” She teamed up with a little-known French company called ID Beauty which will also develop her cosmetics line.

“I went with a small company because I thought they would work really hard for me and they’re very good in skincare,” she explained, sporting an iPad with a leather cover based on her very first print.

PARIS (Reuters) – French department store group Printemps expects sales to grow by about 10-15 percent again this year, driven by tourists from China and Russia spending thousands of euros in its Paris stores.

The average amount for which tourist shoppers are filing tax refunds is more than 700 euros ($987), with Chinese and Russian customers spending in excess of 1,000 euros each, Chief Executive Paolo de Cesare said on Tuesday.

“The Russians are coming back,” Cesare told the Reuters Global Luxury and Fashion summit in Paris. “There’s a direct correlation between the oil price and the number of Russians coming to our store.”

Italian-born Cesare said the rise in sales showed a “strong performance” in the current economic environment and said the group was gaining market share in a stable French apparel market.

He said the top end of the luxury market was outperforming.

“The higher-end customers don’t want to trade down,” he said. “Even if times are tough, they stay with the brand.”

Printemps, which traces its roots back to 1865, has 17 stores in France, but its growth is currently driven predominantly by its flagship Paris store, famous for its art deco cupola.

PARIS (Reuters) – The fundamentals of luxury stocks are better than in recent history, with valuations below past highs despite a gleaming outlook for the industry, according to a fund manager at Swiss and Global Asset Management.

Luxury companies have increased their exposure to emerging markets, giving them higher potential for growth, and are better controlling costs, Scilla Huang Sun told the Reuters Global Luxury and Fashion Summit on Tuesday.

“Global recovery will continue this year, and China will remain the driver for the luxury industry for the next 2-3 years,” Huang Sun said.

After recovering last year, luxury companies from handbag makers to hotels and purveyors of fine wines are expecting a vintage year in 2011, mostly thanks to the insatiable appetite for all things luxury in Asia.

Huang Sun, who manages Swiss and Global’s luxury brands fund, added that companies had learned their lessons from overpaying for acquisitions in the past.

Average market valuations in the sector are currently at 16-18 times forecast earnings for 2012, compared with peak multiples of 17-20, although ranges are vast, she said.

“They’re not extremely high for luxury stocks but they’re not extremely cheap either,” she told the summit at the Reuters office in Paris.