Pedro Sánchez steps up support for aeronautical industry at working meeting with CEO of Airbus

The working meeting was also attended by the Minister for Defence, Margarita Robles; the Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto; the Minister for Science and Innovation, Pedro Duque; the Secretary-General for Economic Affairs and G-20 of the Presidency of the Government, Manuel de la Rocha, the Chairman of Airbus Spain, Alberto Gutiérrez; the Director of Strategy, M&A and Public Affairs of Airbus, Antoine Bouvier, the Non-Executive Director of Airbus, Amparo Moraleda; and the company's Director of Institutional Relations, Jorge Domecq.

Impact of COVID-19 on aerospace industry

The meeting allowed the situation of Airbus to be analysed at a global level and to look at its outlook for the future. The aerospace sector has suffered from a significant reduction in activity, particularly with a 35% fall in production in short-haul commercial planes and a 45% in long haul, requiring support to overcome the crisis and strengthen its capacities to address the future.

Pedro Sánchez and Guillaume Faury reviewed the progress made on the collaboration commitments agreed at their meeting back on 30 July. They also took steps on support for space programmes, reiterating the commitment to military programmes tied in to European defence and confirmed the acquisition of military planes and helicopters.

Strategic technological assets developed in Spain

Foto: Pool Moncloa/Borja Puig de la BellacasaThey also signed an important security agreement at the meeting, which establishes a mechanism to protect strategic technological assets developed by Airbus in Spain. Both the government and Airbus recognise R&D+i policy as a key element in ensuring that the aeronautical sector can survive the crisis without losing market share and prepare a new generation of commercial planes with technology to make aviation more efficient and neutral from an environmental perspective.

Work is currently being undertaken on a series of measures to support the aeronautical sector, such as the Aeronautical Technology Plan (Spanish acronym: PTA), tied in to the EU Recovery Funds, which will be managed by the Spanish Centre for Industrial Technological Development (Spanish acronym: CDTI). An Aerofondo with a provision of 100 million euros to support SMEs in the sector value chain is also being set up. In addition, a Support Fund for Productive Industrial Investment has been set up, with a 600-million euro provision under the National Budget for 2021, to be managed by SEPIDES, S.A., which seeks to provide financial support to promote investments of an industrial nature that contribute to enhancing industrial development and competitiveness.

Airbus in Spain

The State Industrial Ownership Corporation (Spanish acronym: SEPI) currently holds a 4.16% stake in Airbus. In this regard, the meeting also served to address the need to provide adequate access to Spaniards as company executives.

The meeting also addressed the future of Airbus in Spain. The government pointed to the importance of defining a company strategy in our country that helps the sector overcome the current crisis, develop technological and industrial capacities and protect jobs.

Non official translation