Airbus affirms 2025 targets but is still assessing impact of trade tensions

Europe's Airbus reaffirmed forecasts for the year but cautioned on Tuesday that it was still assessing the impact of trade tensions on its operations - simultaneously hit by an engine shortage that has forced it to store up undelivered jets. Guillaume Faury, CEO of the world's largest planemaker, told shareholders Airbus was grappling with a narrowing set of supply problems while looking for clarity on how tariffs would affect costs, deliveries and the fate of a recent boom in jet demand. "Understanding and anticipating what the (tariff) situation will mean for demand ... that's something we need to understand better and then adapt our plans for 2025 and beyond, if and as much as necessary, as things clarify and stabilise," he said. "There's a lot of things happening and we are assessing with our supply chain, with our customers, with our plants, what this is likely to mean and what are the mitigations," he added. Faury was speaking in Amsterdam shortly before being elected for a third three-year term at the helm of Europe's largest aerospace company, which has overtaken Boeing in civil jet output as the U.S. planemaker deals with an internal crisis. He reiterated that 2025 guidance in February did not include the impact of what - at that time - were potential new tariffs. U.S. President Donald Trump imposed sweeping import duties this month before partly suspending his reciprocal tariffs for 90 days for most countries. The European Union is expected to hit back at some industries, with the combined tensions broadening airlines' concerns over the impact on jet deliveries.<br/>