Airbus affirms 2025 targets but is still assessing impact of trade tensions

By Tim Hepher

(Reuters) -Europe's Airbus reaffirmed forecasts for the year but cautioned on Tuesday that it was still assessing the impact of trade tensions on its operations - simultaneously hit by an engine shortage that has forced it to store up undelivered jets.

Guillaume Faury, CEO of the world's largest planemaker, told shareholders Airbus was grappling with a narrowing set of supply problems while looking for clarity on how tariffs would affect costs, deliveries and the fate of a recent boom in jet demand.

"Understanding and anticipating what the (tariff) situation will mean for demand ... that's something we need to understand better and then adapt our plans for 2025 and beyond, if and as much as necessary, as things clarify and stabilise," he said.

"There's a lot of things happening and we are assessing with our supply chain, with our customers, with our plants, what this is likely to mean and what are the mitigations," he added.

Faury was speaking in Amsterdam shortly before being elected for a third three-year term at the helm of Europe's largest aerospace company, which has overtaken Boeing in civil jet output as the U.S. planemaker deals with an internal crisis.

He reiterated that 2025 guidance in February did not include the impact of what - at that time - were potential new tariffs.

U.S. President Donald Trump imposed sweeping import duties this month before partly suspending his reciprocal tariffs for 90 days for most countries. The European Union is expected to hit back at some industries, with the combined tensions broadening airlines' concerns over the impact on jet deliveries.

SPIRIT DEAL CLOSE

Airbus is one of several aerospace companies that excluded trade from forecasts, meaning investors will be watching for any changes in tone in their quarterly updates in coming weeks.

The industry is meanwhile trying to ramp up production to meet strong demand for aircraft since the pandemic.

Faury said Airbus was facing a more limited number of problem cases than in the past, but still faced delays from a handful of large suppliers including French-U.S. venture CFM International, the world's largest engine maker by units sold.

"Engines are a major challenge; CFM is significantly behind the curve," he said.

CFM, co-owned by GE Aerospace and France's Safran, declined to comment.

Earlier this month, Reuters reported that a handful of undelivered planes were seen parked outside Airbus' main factory in Toulouse including a China Eastern jet pictured without engines.

In all, Airbus has assembled between 25 and 30 planes that it nicknames "gliders" because they lack engines, Faury said.

Airbus also continues to face problems getting major fuselage or wing components from major U.S. parts supplier Spirit AeroSystems for its A350 and A220 jetliners.

Chief Financial Officer Thomas Toepfer said Airbus expected to finalise a deal to take over some Spirit operations by the end of April, with the closing expected "ideally by June 30".

Airbus is expected to take over at least four Spirit plants as part of a rescue scheme put together in cooperation with Boeing, which involves dividing assets of the world's largest independent aerostructures company to prevent its collapse.

“We continue working with Airbus on this matter," Spirit spokesperson Joe Buccino said.

Industry sources said the deal has been held up by negotiations over details like IT systems at an Airbus-related plant in North Carolina, which will remain connected for a while to the core Spirit plants to be taken over by Boeing.

As a result, Airbus will depend on Boeing, its historic rival, to provide sensitive IT services for now, they said.

(Additional reporting by Allison Lampert; Editing by Kirsten Donovan, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Susan Fenton)