airbus industrie was formally established as a "groupement d'intérêt économique" (economic interest group or gie) on 18 december 1970. it had been formed by a government initiative between france, west germany and the uk that originated in 1967. its initial shareholders were the french company aérospatiale and the west german company deutsche airbus, each owning a 50% share. the name "airbus" was taken from a non-proprietary term used by the airline industry in the 1960s to refer to a commercial aircraft of a certain size and range, as it was linguistically-acceptable to the french. aérospatiale and deutsche airbus each took a 36.5% share of production work, hawker siddeley 20% and the dutch company fokker-vfw 7%. each company would deliver its sections as fully equipped, ready-to-fly items. in october 1971 the spanish company casa acquired a 4.2% share of airbus industrie, with aérospatiale and deutsche airbus reducing their total stakes to 47.9%. in january 1979 british aerospace, which had absorbed hawker siddeley in 1977, acquired a 20% share of airbus industrie. the majority shareholders reduced their shares to 37.9%, while casa retained its 4.2%.