Airbus CEO says may need state backing for A320 successor, FT reports

Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said the company “might need some support” from European governments for a new commercial aircraft program that would succeed the A320, The Financial Times’ Sylvia Pfeifer reports. Airbus is currently receiving some research funding from European governments to explore technologies for a plane that could replace the A320 narrow-body aircraft in the second part of the next decade and is also working on a shorter-range hydrogen-powered aircraft expected to enter service in 2035, but neither program has been formally launched, a process that will require billions of euros in funding. “We need to find acceptable mechanisms to incentivize private sector investment and share risks with governments in order to support the design and development of new aircraft programs that will deliver the decarbonization of aerospace,” Faury told the Financial Times.