The AeroSpace and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD) has urged the European Union and national authorities to increase their financial support of research and development activities, and to assist airlines and SMEs struggling to gain access to credit.
"Market-driven R&D is vital for us to prepare for the next generation of European aircraft, and in addition to support a very strong defence industry," said ASD president Allan Cook at a press conference coinciding with a board meeting in Brussels.
Cook, who is also chief executive of Cobham, called for "the implementation of funding schemes aimed at facilitating airlines' access to liquidity for the purchase of new aircraft", and implored public authorities "to pay particular attention to the situation that we have now in our supply chains", adding that "a loan programme for aerospace SMEs would be particularly welcome".
This call was echoed by Tom Enders, chief executive of Airbus and chair of the German aerospace industries association BDLI. "A lot of our suppliers are indeed very small companies who were financially not very well-equipped even before the crisis," he noted. "You don't need to be a prophet to predict that we will, as a result of this crisis, see some going out of business [and] probably also consolidation."
Enders identified a need for increased support from European export credit agencies, and praised a scheme under which the French government will guarantee up to €5 billion in loans to aerospace companies from local banks. "I'm hopeful that something similar can be established by other major countries," he said.
In emphasising the need for R&D support, the ASD bemoaned delays to Clean Sky, a programme of research into environmentally friendly aircraft to which the European Commission and a group of aerospace companies have each committed €800 million of funding.
Warning that the programme is "in grave danger of suffocating in red tape", the ASD demanded "rapid and far-reaching" changes to the Commission's "ill-adapted internal procedures".
"Industry has been waiting to invest its €800 million for two years, but commission funding is still delayed," said Enders.
Cook claimed that the slow progress was putting European industry at a competitive disadvantage. "We have to find better and more efficient ways of getting funding through the bureaucracy that is tied up in the European Union," he said. "The Americans don't have to go through this level of bureaucracy to see investments made in their industry."
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news