The head of Airbus announced the possible need for state support – Kommersant

Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said in an interview Financial Timesthat the European aviation concern may require government support to create new aircraft models. It was government subsidies to aircraft manufacturers that caused the trade dispute between the EU and the US in 2019.

Airbus has enough money to develop aircraft that should replace the A320 family in the mid-2030s, Mr. Faury said. In addition, the company receives some financial support from European governments to carry out the necessary research. However, the head of the company does not exclude that in the future, in order to implement programs to create new Airbus models, “some support may be needed” from EU countries. At the same time, Mr. Faury noted that he would prefer that such support, as before, be formalized in the form of recoupable investments in the launch – when the state takes on a certain percentage of the costs of product development, and the company returns this money as a percentage of sales .

“We need to find suitable mechanisms to encourage private sector investment and risk sharing with governments to support the design and development of new aviation programs that will decarbonise the aerospace industry,” the Airbus chief said.

The receipt of state aid by a European aviation concern for the development of new models has already become the subject of many years of litigation in the WTO. Back in 2004, the United States opposed financing Airbus developments, which thus protected the American manufacturer Boeing from unfair competition. The US claims the subsidies have caused Boeing to be unable to negotiate sales of more than 300 of its aircraft and to lose significant market share around the world. The first decision on this dispute was made in favor of the United States back in 2009. And in October 2019, the WTO panel of arbitrators allowed The US will raise import duties on goods from the EU worth up to $7.5 billion. Later, the WTO allowed The EU will impose similar duties worth up to $4 billion. The trade war caused by subsidies to Airbus ended only in mid-2021. The parties agreed that in the future, the allocation of state support for both Airbus and Boeing should not harm their competitors in the market and should be agreed upon with the opposite party.

Kirill Sarkhanyants