Airbus Defense and Space lacks, among other things, the money that the German government holds back for the Airbus A400M because the military carrier does not fulfill Airbus' commitments. It was only on Wednesday that the Franco-German group had warned the European governments that the delays in the A400M had a negative impact on their cash in this and next year. The aircraft and armaments group had actually undertaken to keep the inflow of funds at the level of 2016.
At the end of June, Airbus had 7.9 billion euros in the cash register, half a year earlier it was still 11.1 billion. The figures fluctuate strongly because of the huge advance for new aircraft models and the irregular medium-flow nozzle in the industry. If deliveries are delayed, this also weighs on the cash flow. There are also problems with the A320neo commercial aircraft because the US supplier Pratt & Whitney does not deliver the engines in time. Airbus does not publish the targets for its individual divisions.
A "Cash Crisis" team in the armaments division is now to examine the costs. All product programs would have to be involved, Whitehead demanded. An Airbus spokesman tried to bring the message down to the employees: such appeals are common in the end of the year. "It is important to remind our troops at this time in the fiscal year how important our cash targets are." This is the standard to reach the quarterly and annual targets at Airbus Defense and Space without detour.