German government is reportedly in talks with Airbus regarding the repayment of the €942 million development loan for the discontinued A380 program.
So far, the European manufacturer only paid back a third of the loan which was granted in 2002 by the German government. The remaining €600 million of taxpayer money may never be paid back, according to Funke Mediengruppe. Indeed, according to the terms of this “risk partnership”, the repayment is conditioned to deliveries. So far, the manufacturer was paying a fixed amount per plane it delivered.
But since Airbus announced on February 14, 2019, the end of the program whose last aircraft should be delivered in 2021, the German Ministry of Economic Affairs has now to assess if and how the manufacturer will continue repaying the loan.
The issue was raised by the opposition party Freie Demokratische Partei (FDP) in the Bundestag, the German parliament. “The Federal Government will now analyze the effects of the production stop and then discuss with the company, so that at present no statement about any claims for restitution can be made,” answered State Secretary Ulrich Nussbaum, quoted by Reuters.