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Airbus mulls legal action against defaulting airlines

Airbus has reportedly indicated it could take legal action against airlines that fail to honour contracts as a result of the coronavirus crisis.

Reuters reported comments made by chief executive Guillaume Faury in an interview with Politico, in which he said some airlines had refused to engage in conversations during the crisis.

Insisting that he hoped to reach compromise with customers, he said: “It will remain, I hope, the exception because we always try to find a different route than going to court.

“But if and when airlines – and it’s happening – have no other choice than fully defaulting and not proposing something better than nothing, or are not willing to do it, then (lawsuits) will happen.”

Faury previously warned that Airbus was “bleeding cash at an unprecedented speed”, and two months ago the company confirmed plans to cut production by a third in the face of the “unprecedented” impact of the crisis.

On Friday, The Guardian reported that the manufacturer was considering a voluntary redundancy scheme for up to 500 UK employees, and warned that number was likely to rise significantly with the addition of compulsory redundancies.

The report said UK job cuts were expected to be focused on the Airbus factory in Broughton, north Wales, which produces wings for aircraft including the A320 and A350.

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