Leasing companies and airlines have open orders for hundreds of aircraft. Airbus seeks compromises with them. If that doesn’t work, the manufacturer wants to sue.
Airbus responded fairly early. In April the European aircraft manufacturer announced that it would cut its emissions by a third until further notice. Instead of 60 Airbus A319, A320 and A321 per month, only 40 will roll out of the factory in the future. With the A330 the annual production rate is reduced from 40 to 24, with the A350 from around 115 to 72. Around 10,000 jobs are therefore at risk.
Management is thus responding to the foreseeable lull in orders. Because airlines expect less desire to travel after the Corona crisis and at the same time have little financial reserves, they will no longer order as many aircraft. Airbus also believes that it will take several years before the demand for airplanes returns to pre-crisis levels.
Compromises that are “hard for both but don’t kill them”
It is all the more important for Airbus to maintain existing customer relationships. “This is the moment when you see what relationship means,” CEO Guillaume Faury told Politico magazine. That is why the leasing companies and airlines are working on compromises regarding open orders that are “hard for both sides but do not kill them”, as he puts it.
However, these negotiations are not always easy. At the height of the crisis, Airbus could not even reach some customers. “You didn’t want to take the call. They didn’t know what to say, »Faury told the magazine. In any case, he hoped that an agreement could be reached and expected the same in the majority of cases.
Going to court as a last resort
But if that does not happen, you will act hard. If airlines fail to meet their commitments or make compromise proposals, “there will be legal proceedings,” said the Airbus boss.
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