Airbus Calls for U.K. to Step Up Aviation Research After Brexit

Airbus SE called for increased U.K. investment in sustainable aviation to supplement budgets strained by the coronavirus crisis and help safeguard the country’s position as a major player in the industry.

Chief Executive Officer Guillaume Faury, speaking on a panel Monday for the virtual Farnborough Air Show, said Britain has put advances in decarbonization and digitization high on its agenda and that greater research spending should help foster good relations in the wake of its split from the European Union.

“Brexit, or the kind of Brexit we might have by the end of the year, could be an additional challenge to many other challenges,” Faury said. “But there are also opportunities. We hope that the U.K. ecosystem will be more innovative, will be more competitive, and we have a long-term presence in the U.K.”

The prodding is meant to nudge Britain toward closing the gap with France and Germany, which have devoted billions in aid to protect their ailing aerospace firms, while London has shied away from sector-specific bailouts. The pandemic has caused companies across the industry to cancel research projects and cut thousands of jobs.

‘Less Money’

“The challenge is to keep investing in spite of a crisis that is taking away a lot of our investment capacity,” Faury said. “That’s why we work with governments to get support. The priorities remain the same but we have less money to make them happen.

Meggitt Plc CEO Tony Wood, who also heads the U.K. aerospace industry’s ADS trade group, echoed his Airbus counterpart, saying governments should “take up more of the load” for investment.

A U.K. tradition of aerospace leadership is under threat from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The downturn has added to earlier challenges such as Brexit that have made it harder to justify further investment from EU manufacturers.

European aerospace firms including Airbus, U.K. engine maker Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc and France’s Safran SA have said they’ll cull more than 30,000 global posts, based on a Bloomberg tally.

A survey earlier Monday from manufacturing lobby Make UK found that more than half of the country’s manufacturing firms plan to cut jobs in the next six months.

More funding for training and research can help maintain the talent pool while strengthening suppliers, the executives said.

Jet Zero

Britain, for its part, is seeking to show it’s responding. On Monday, the government said it would provide 200 million pounds ($253 million) in matching grants for research and technology.

In a separate Farnborough panel, U.K. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the country is in a “unique position” to lead on decarbonization with its Jet Zero initiative to build the world’s first emissions-free commercial aircraft.