Airbus Promised to Quit Putin. They Didn’t. So Let’s Quit Airbus

Back in December of last year, I wrote in this space, “With the one-year anniversary of Russia’s Special Military War Crime Operation against Ukraine fast approaching, French aerospace giant Airbus has finally caved to months of international pressure to fall in line with Western sanctions and will stop propping up the Putin regime by doing big business with it ‘within months.’” Of course, I considered it very good news. Long overdue, but good, nonetheless.

I had relied on a Reuters story on the announcement and was glad to hear that Airbus had finally come to their senses, as most Western companies had long before. But Airbus being Airbus, it seems we’ve been had — they just can’t quit Vlad. As it turns out, they continue to source titanium from Russia, critical Western sanctions be damned. And the United States, puzzlingly, continues to do business with Airbus.

In an April letter from the B4Ukraine Coalition to Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury, the coalition expressed concern that Airbus was continuing to source titanium from Russia. In calling Faury out, the coalition wrote, “In March 2022, Airbus announced that it stopped providing support services to its customers in Russia and halted the supply of spare parts for its aircrafts to Russian airlines in line with restrictions. However, the company apparently continues its dependence on Russian titanium.”

In a June letter responding to the coalition, an Airbus executive, Nicolas Chretien, confirmed that they had not ceased their reliance on Russian titanium but, to paraphrase, were trying to. “An immediate and full withdrawal of titanium sourcing from Russia would significantly damage the entire aerospace industry in Europe, whilst the impact would be marginal for Russia…,” Chretien fretted. This is strange because their competitors were fine stepping away early on, but whatever, right?

Today, it appears they are still trying, as I’ve seen no evidence of progress in the matter.

As long as these games continue to be played, the Pentagon must make an example of Airbus and demonstrate how much we do not appreciate companies who choose Putin over Western allies. According to Reuters, they remain in the running for a contract with the Air Force to provide an important next-generation refueling tanker. The report indicates that they face long odds to secure the contract, but that’s neither here nor there. Airbus should be shamed and barred from this or any other contract with the U.S. government until they keep their pledge to stop doing business with Putin’s Russia.

It should not be lost on Americans who are sick of sending unlimited aid to Ukraine that our Pentagon has not ruled out outsourcing the manufacture of critical refueling tankers to a foreign company that thumbs its nose at sanctions designed to help bring about a speedier end to Russian aggression. If our Congress was paying attention to anything of actual importance, they would insist that the people who dole out contracts at the Pentagon not help prop up Putin by cutting big checks to a company continuing to do business with him.

In my December piece, I expressed appreciation to Airbus for announcing a decision to finally come around on the Russian titanium issue and abide by the sanctions, something even their competitors had done much earlier. Fool me once, shame on them.

I wrote earlier last year that giving Airbus U.S. contracts under the circumstances “would send a terrible message about our tolerance for unreliability or outright disloyalty in international crisis situations.” Let’s not be fooled again by Airbus’s confused loyalties. Oh, and I sure hope their airliners — one of which I happen to be on as I write this — are more reliable than their word.