Airbus CEO sounds alarm over China market as omicron wave hits country

Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury raised a note of caution on the planemaker’s outlook for this year, citing the spread of omicron in China, its biggest market for aircraft deliveries. The European jet manufacturer is closely watching the situation in China, the destination for 23% of aircraft handovers in 2021, Faury said. With the Winter Olympics in Beijing just a month away, the country has imposed increasingly strict, though localized, lockdown measures that had already faltered in containing the less-contagious delta variant of the coronavirus. The moves could potentially impede Airbus’s ability to supply its customers in China, as well as to blunt demand for more planes. An outbreak has caused authorities to clamp down on movement in the port city of Tianjin, where the planemaker has a final assembly facility for its A320 family of single-aisle jets. Production hasn’t yet been impacted, Faury said. He’ll be paying close attention to developments there, the Airbus CEO said on a conference call following annual order-and-delivery results. “Omicron has the potential to significantly change the picture in China compared to 2020 or 2021 but for the moment we don’t see disruptions or risks,” Faury said. “We have a strong presence in China so that’s something that’s really close to our business.”<br/>