Airbus asks airlines to pressure Boeing to avoid subsidies

SEOUL (Reuters) – Airbus has written to airline executives asking them to support them in a trade dispute with rival Boeing, warning that aircraft prices and pbadenger fares would rise if the US and the Union European countries were to embark on a tariff war.

The appeal was launched in a letter to several airline chiefs gathered in Seoul, where the International Air Transport Association warned of the impact of global trade tensions globally, a person told Reuters familiar with the publication of this letter.

The United States and Europe are wrestling with a 15-year dispute over mutual claims of unlawful aid to giants of the plane.

US President Donald Trump last month threatened to impose tariffs on $ 11 billion worth of European goods, including planes and their components, urging the EU to come up with a list of goods and services. US imports worth $ 20 billion that it could strike in retaliation.

"If tariffs were applied, the costs for US and European airlines, suppliers and manufacturers in the aerospace and European sectors would be significantly higher," said Christian Scherer, Airbus sales manager, in the text of the letter consulted by Reuters.

He asked the airlines to urge Boeing to participate in the negotiations proposed by the EU and Airbus.

Airbus and Boeing did not comment immediately.

This is the first time that either company has sought to directly involve the airline industry in the dispute, which is the largest ever handled by the World Trade Organization. The US airline Delta Air Lines has stated that it opposes US tariff threats, claiming that they are harming the interests of the United States.

Delegates at the IATA talks said the airlines would look very carefully at the need to intervene directly in the aircraft dispute, which has brought to light intense competition for aircraft orders and which cost the warring parties tens of millions of dollars.

However, IATA, which includes 290 airlines accounting for 82% of the world's traffic, is expected to express its concerns over mounting tensions in the global market, which has already weighed on the freight trade and threatened the demand for some pbadengers.