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There will be “only losers” in the aerospace of an prolonged trade war, especially in the United States, warned the chief of Airbus, when he called for a return of negotiation without a price for the industry.
Guillaume Faury, director general of the European aircraft manufacturer, said that industry in the United States was trying to “assert” to bring back a 1979 agreement which until the recent trade disturbance allowed trade without aircraft and parts.
“We think it makes a lot of sense,” said Faury, adding that it seemed “that there will only be losers in the aerospace industry, especially in the United States”.
His comments came as Airbus Better reported than expected the profits and income for the first quarter.
The company, the largest plane in the world, has also confirmed its financial objectives and reiterated plans to deliver 820 commercial planes this year, but said that its directives had excluded any impact of the price Because it was too early to quantify.
This year's deliveries would also be behind, “reflecting the specific challenges of the supply chain we face,” said Airbus.
Donald Trump's trade war has created uncertainty in a sector that has largely worked without commercial barriers outside a period of 18 months when the samples were imposed as part of a dispute from the subsidies for Boeing and Airbus.
After unveiling a series of prices on goods imported from its business partners in early April, Trump paused on some of the most difficult measures announced for 90 days. However, imports to the United States are still subject to a rate of 10% and the president sparked a trade war with Beijing by increasing the samples from most Chinese products up to 145%.
Faury said that Airbus was in talks with the customers of American airlines on how to mitigate the impact of 10%tasks, but stressed that it would not pay prices “with regard to planes that go to American customers outside the United States”.
“It is their duty to do it. They are not very happy to see this situation,” he added.
Several airline leaders, including Ed Bastian from Delta Air Lines, have warned in recent weeks postpone deliveries Airbus or Boeing rather than paying prices. Delta is expected to receive 10 wide boundaries from European Airbus factories this year, according to the Cirium aviation consulting firm.
Aengus Kelly, Managing Director of Aercap, the largest aircraft rental company in the world, echoed Faury's comments in an earlier interview with the Financial Times. Kelly warned that “if this tariff situation should continue and Europeans will be forced to put prices on Boeing aircraft … It will be much more difficult for Boeing to sell in Europe and China”.
Airbus, who finalized an agreement on Monday to resume certain Spirit aerosystems installations, said that the supplier's difficulties continued to put pressure on the rise of its A220 and A350 aircraft.
The company, however, said that it was still planning to produce 12 A350 per month in 2028 and target an A220 monthly production rate of 14 aircraft in 2026. Its most sold A320 family continues to progress to a rate of 75 aircraft per month in 2027.
In the first quarter, Airbus declared an increase of 8% of the profits adjusted before interest and tax to 624 million euros compared to one year earlier, while income increased by 6% to 13.54 billion euros.
