London: Airbus wants Britain to provide more clarity over the country’s future relationship with the European Union, or risk losing investment, the European planemaker’s CEO said.
“We must have more clarity on the UK’s long-term relationships, not just for the next 20 months,” CEO Tom Enders said in an opinion piece in the Financial Times on Wednesday.
“Britain must recognise that future investments are not a given.” His comments come less than a month after Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May agreed a transition deal with European leaders to keep existing trade ties unchanged for 21 months after Brexit, a move seen by politicians as a way of providing businesses with certainty.
But Enders said Britain needed to go further. He called for Britain to remain part of the EU aviation safety certification agency, EASA, to allow Airbus’s planes to gain the necessary approvals to let them fly, and said that its business depended on aircraft parts and people being able to move freely between its sites across the UK and Europe.
Airbus employs 15,000 in Britain where it makes all the wings for its commercial aircraft.
Enders also said that there needed to be an agreement covering security, defence and space programmes between Britain and the EU, calling for deals to “cement this cooperation”.
“It is no good making the right noises. We need a plan that comes from the UK but is also accepted by the EU27,” Enders said. “Within these negotiations, the EU will need to offer some flexibility but the UK must also be realistic in its demands; pragmatism must trump pride.” The transition deal, secured by May in March, pushed back the risk of disruption for companies until the end of 2020. But London and Brussels must first agree on their long-term trade ties for the period after 2020 for the transition agreement to become effective.
Airbus, which has its headquarters in France, has 25 sites in Britain and spends more than 5 billion pounds ($7.10 billion) with suppliers in the country. It said that its activities in Britain support 117,000 jobs.
Factbox: Airbus is said to boost A320 Neo production to meet high demand
London: Airbus SE and its suppliers have agreed to lift the target production rate for its A320neo model in response to strong demand for the narrow-body aircraft, according to people familiar with the matter. The European plane maker now aims to produce 63 single-aisle planes a month by the second quarter of 2019, up from a previous goal of 60, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the new rate hasn’t been made public. The company has previously said it could lift rates to as high as 70 a month, based on market demand, and was in talks with its suppliers.
Airbus has faced pushback on A320 rates, predominantly from engine makers CFM International and Pratt & Whitney, with both signalling that capacity is likely too stretched to meet the upper level target. The turbine producers have battled to meet existing goals, with Pratt’s most recent engine-seal hiccup stalling deliveries until later this month. Pratt is owned by United Technologies Corp. while CFM is a venture of General Electric Co. and France’s Safran SA.
