(Adds Spanish government statement, jobs data)
By Belén Carreño, Inti Landauro and Tim Hepher
MADRID/PARIS, March 13 (Reuters) - Doubts are growing
over the future of Madrid's remaining orders for the Airbus A400M airlifter, European defence sources said on
Monday, raising the stakes of talks over the planemaker's future
investment in one of its founder nations.
The A400M is one of Europe's core defence projects and a
focal point for aerospace investment in Spain, which has ordered
27 of the troop planes and is responsible for final assembly.
But after several months of uncertainty, European
defence sources said Madrid was leaning towards cancelling the
remaining 13 or so aircraft in Spain's quota that have not been
delivered, after its air force indicated it did not need the
extra planes.
The Spanish government and Airbus declined comment.
Designed to boost the strategic autonomy of seven European
NATO nations that previously relied on U.S. airlift, the A400M
project has been hit by a series of cost overruns and delays.
Fresh doubts over what was once Europe's largest defence
project emerged as Airbus Chief Executive Guillaume
Faury attended centenary celebrations of Construcciones
Aeronauticas (CASA), one of the European companies that gave
birth to Airbus more than 50 years ago.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Defence Minister Margarita
Robles and King Felipe also attended Monday's event in Getafe,
outside Madrid, which included the opening of a space facility.
Any decision over the future of the A400M is expected to
trigger intense negotiations over alternative defence orders and
Airbus's ongoing investment in Spain, the sources said.
JOBS AND RESEARCH
Spain and Airbus are already in discussions over how to
soften any impact from a partial A400M order cancellation, they
said, while Sanchez's office issued a detailed breakdown of the
benefits that Spain had provided Airbus.
In a statement following a meeting between Sanchez and Faury
on Monday, the prime minister's office made no mention of the
A400M but urged Airbus to increase its footprint in Spain - one
of its core nations alongside France, Germany and Britain.
The two sides "addressed the need for the company to
increase the industrial workload in Spain" as well as boost
research spending and space activities, the statement said,
adding that Madrid had supported Airbus during the pandemic.
There was no immediate comment on the meeting from Airbus.
Defence publication Janes reported last year that Airbus
was waiting for Madrid to back the SIRTAP tactical drone
project, co-developed by Airbus Spain and Colombia.
Spain also last year ordered an extra 20 Eurofighter combat
jets, a four-nation fighter programme for which Airbus is the
industrial partner in Spain and Germany.
Spain's unemployment rate rose to 12.87% in the fourth
quarter of 2022 from 12.67% three months earlier, pushing the
number of unemployed people above the 3 million threshold.
In the southern Spanish region of Andalusia, where Airbus
assembles the A400M, the rate was however higher at 19%.
(Reporting by Belen Carreno, Tim Hepher, Inti Landauro, Jesus
Aguado; Editing by John Stonestreet, Alison Williams and Lisa
Shumaker)
Messaging: tim.hepher.thomsonreuters@reuters.net))
