Airbus hopes to reduce taxpayer cut of A380 sales
AIRBUS is reportedly looking to reduce the amount it is to pay back government investors in the company’s superjumbo A380s.
The aerospace giant – and one of Wales’ biggest employers – received heavy investment from governments and Airbus had agreed to make repayments through each aircraft it sold.
However, Airbus has taken orders for just 371 of the doubledecker A380s. The A380 was certificated for a maximum 853 people, most airlines operate the model with 450 to 550 seats, with Dubaibased Emirates, the biggest operator, introducing a two-class 615seat version.
Airbus is, according to reports in the Sunday Telegraph, looking to reduce the taxpayers cut of sales. The double-decker planes are priced at $437m.
The request for a restructing of the bill comes at the same time Airbus has stepped in to take a majority stake in Bombardier’s C Series aircraft programme – a move that looks set to safeguard thousands of jobs in Belfast.
Airbus has stated the partnership with Bombardier will have no impact on jobs at the company’s Broughton site.
Chief executive officer Tom Enders had said Airbus will push the Canadian model’s largest variant, the CS300, at the expense of the similarly sized A319neo (new engine option). The A319neo wings are made at Broughton.
Airbus has said it expects the A319 and CS300 will co-exist – targeting different market segments. It said there was currently a 75 jet backlog on the A319.
A spokesman said: “The new partnership with Bombardier brings together two complementary product lines of single aisle aircraft and strengthens our global competitiveness.
“The combined offering and the synergies will unleash more compelling power in our sales campaigns, from which the whole Airbus and C-Series worker community will benefit.
“This is a win-win situation for Bombardier and Airbus workers as well as for our respective supply chains.
“Our single aisle aircraft programme, of which the A319 is a part, continues to ramp up due to huge demand across the globe – from a monthly production Rate of 50 aircraft at the start of the year to a Rate of 60 aircraft by the middle of 2019.
“The C-Series is highly complementary to Airbus’ single aisle aircraft family and we expect the A319 to co-exist with the CS300 as both aircraft target different market segments and offer benefits that answer different customer needs.
“The backlog for the A319 is 75 aircraft so it makes up a small percentage of the Single Aisle production programme and there will be no impact on jobs at Broughton.”