Guillaume Faury, Airbus CEO Talks Demand, Tariffs Impact, European Defense
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Starting price for 25 megabits per second LTE internet plan with smartphone plan savings, plus taxes, fees, and economic adjustment charge. Terms apply. For J.D. Power 2024 award information, visit jdpower.com slash awards. Bloomberg Audio Studios. Podcasts, radio, news. Good morning, Lizzie. Yeah, let's just set the scene.

As we start the Paris Air Show this year, as you say, it is likely to be affected by a number of external factors. The most obvious one, of course, is what has just happened in India. That means that the CEO of Boeing is not going to be here. It obviously casts a very long shadow over events at the show. You've also got the conflict in the Middle East as well, and that's going to cast a long shadow as well. Maybe some of the news, some of the announcements that we were expecting coming from the show...

may not appear, may get pushed a little bit to the right, may be coming a little bit later. So there's a number of factors that are impacting the show that are obvious. But there's a number of factors that are still impacting what is happening within aerospace more broadly that is maybe slightly longer in duration. There's still a supply chain problem. We're still worrying about what is happening with the tariff store. We don't understand yet what the visibility around that all looks like.

And there's also the factor of the dollar as well. The depreciating dollar is something you need to bear in mind. When an industry prices most of its products in dollars and you see a significant change, that is a factor. There's a lot to talk to Guillaume Fourier about. He is, of course, the president of GIFAS, the French Aerospace Association. He's hosting this event. He is, of course, as well.

the CEO of Airbus. Good morning. Good morning. Is it going to be a quiet show? There's so many things going on at the moment. Does that put a little bit of a cloud over what's going to happen here? I think the accident last week, obviously, was a very tragic event. We're all working hard in this industry for this not to happen. So when it happens, it's...

It's a big setback, but yes, we have a slow start in the show, but I think it will be a good show. As you rightly said, plenty of uncertainties and difficulties, but also some mega trends, more and more people traveling, very strong demand for air travel, and therefore a lot of activity for our industry. You talk about the uncertainty. Thomas, your CFO, was saying the other day, I think it was on Friday, talking about the idea that maybe...

There isn't the visibility on buybacks right now because of the uncertainty that exists right now within the industry. How much uncertainty is there? How much visibility do you have? How confident are you in the targets you're setting yourself right now? Well, we have plenty of contradictions to manage. We have a very strong backlog.

of signed contracts, customers expecting those aircraft to be delivered. So we have pressure on deliveries. We have a challenging situation for supply chain coming out of COVID. Now with the uncertainties on trade and also on conflicts around the world. So we are pushing hard to be able to fulfill our obligations to our customers. They count on us.

But it's an uncertain world, so we have to also to-- - Is it getting more uncertain or less uncertain? - I think it's a contradiction. It's full of contradictions. Megatrends are there. Demand for air travel is there. That's a fact. It's growing. So we have to serve that demand.

But on the other hand, yes, on the short term, on the supply chain management, on the way conflicts are impacting the supply chain and our ability to do business, it's becoming more challenging. So there's probably more difficulties to do business. But the reasons, the fundamentals of business are very strong.

What are the challenges right now? What do you not have enough of? We've talked in the past about engines. Do you not have enough of those? Seats, toilets. Where is it right now that you're facing the challenges right now? I mean, the uncertainties that are weighing on us are trade. Yep. Obviously, tariffs. What is the next steps? What is going to happen with tariffs? Going down, escalating. What do you think? Is it going down or is it escalating? We don't know. So we have to make different scenarios. What do you think is going to happen?

We have to make different scenarios and be resilient to different scenarios. It's not about thinking, it's about preparing, it's about being resilient. That's the world we're living in. Then you have the security conflicts around the world which are impacting ability to fly over certain zones that's difficult for airlines.

that is impacting the willingness of some areas of the world to travel to other areas of the world. Then you have the US-China tensions, which are not helping. So when it comes to our supply chain, a lot of things have improved, especially compared to last year. We have by far less critical issues, but the remaining ones are big ones.

As you know, on the single aisle we have gliders, so meaning we have airplanes fully ready to be delivered without engines. We have an engine crisis on our single aircraft and that's really what we're trying to solve with our friends from CFM. Boeing has a new head of sales. His name is Donald Trump, he is the President of the United States. And it seems as if the message coming at the moment is, you order a bunch of Boeing airplanes, you are going to get a better trade deal.

Where's the muscle in Europe? Where's the political backing? The Prime Minister's going to be here a little bit later on today. You're going to be greeting him. Where's the political muscle that you need to be able to do...

to compete with what is happening with Boeing and the Presidents of the United States? We like the power of our products. At Airbus we are passionate about techniques, about supporting what our customers need with the right product, the right customer support as well.

And we have also a good sales guy at Airbus, probably less known than Trump from the public, but well-known in the industry. So we are trying to promote our products on their own merits. But do you need political backing? Is that what this is going to come down to? It feels like an increasingly political story. Less about product, more about politics. It plays a big role. Politics plays a big role. So we have to be even better. Okay.

That's what we're trying to achieve with our products again, making sure that customers select Airbus planes on the merits of the planes. As I say, you are the president of GIFAS as well. Let's talk a little bit about what is happening here in Europe. I've talked to you in the past about the idea that we need an Airbus of defense. We need consolidation. We're going to see some consolidation maybe in the space industry. Talk to me. When the prime minister comes, when the president comes, when he comes back from the G7,

Again, what is the message here in terms of what needs to happen in Europe on the defense side? And do you believe that the budgets are there? The deficits in Europe, apart from Germany, are enormous right now. Can Europe afford to rearm in the way that it needs to, to deliver the kind of defense industrial complex that it needs to deliver if it wants to defend itself right now? I think Europe has understood, and most of the large countries of Europe, that they need to step up in defense, that Europe needs to take care of its own security, and

and that they will be in the future they will get less support from the United States because the US have made clear that Europe has to take care of their own security. And we have security issues at the border of Europe with Ukraine and Russia.

So I am convinced that the countries of Europe know that they have to step up. They will put more money. They will spend more money in Europe. You think the money's there? Are you confident the money's there? The money will be coming. We see the early signs, but very strong and clear signals that the money will be coming, that the budgets are increasing. Probably not as fast as what is publicly said, but it's going to come. Germany will be very committed. Other countries will be committed.

So money will come. There will be more money going to security. The money will be spent in Europe more than in the past. In the past, the majority of the money spent for defense acquisition was spent to non-EU companies, mostly U.S. companies. This will change progressively. And the money will be spent more wisely, with more corporations, creating scale. And as you know, we at Airbus are,

We are experts in creating that scale. We did it in commercial aviation, in helicopters, as well in missiles with our contribution to MBDA. And we are currently working to create scale in satellite manufacturing and services with our competitors, with our friends from Thales. When does that get announced? When are we going to see that deal? Well, that's something we have already explained. We are moving forward into the steps of discussing with authorities for the antitrust.

and creating the case together. So it will come later in the year, but that's something we are very focused on, creating scale in space. Guillaume, it's great to see you. Thank you very much indeed for stopping by to see us. I know you've got a busy show. Many hats are being worn, Guillaume Faure, at this air show. Guillaume Faure, the CEO

of Airbus and the president of EFAS joining us on day one here at the Paris Airshow.

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