Airbus, Boeing Hopeful on Return of State-Backed Plane Financing

(Fox Business, Dublin, 22 January 2018) Boeing and Airbus officials have signaled optimism that problems denting their access to government-backed plane financing are nearing resolution. Boeing and Airbus last year both delivered a record number of planes. Though commercial financing for the planes was ample, both Airbus and Boeing are eager to regain access to government-backed credit as an insurance. Some financially weaker airlines need to tap the government-backed financing or the plane makers themselves. Airbus also has been struggling to get backing from its governments for export deals. France, Germany and the U.K. in 2016 suspended financial backing for the plane maker's exports over British Serious Fraud Office concerns that Airbus had failed to fully disclose the use of middlemen in certain transactions. Euler Hermes said at the event that European financial institutions were still establishing a process to assure themselves of Airbus's compliance rules. The U.S. Export-Import Bank, or ExIm, which typically backs Boeing plane exports is affected by the U.S. government's partial shutdown absent a budget agreement. Even before the government shutdown of all-but essential staff, ExIm had been restricted to providing support to deals valued below $10 million because its board lacked sufficient members to approve larger transactions.

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