Originally Posted by
ZeBedie
The prospect of Airbus leaving has been around ever since BAe sold out to EADS. Airbus threaten to leave the UK every time they want a government loan. Now what they're doing is simply lobbying for their best commercial interests - if we crash out of the EU next March without continued EASA membership, things will be difficult for Airbus and they don't want anything to disrupt their business, which is understandable.
In the long term, there's probably an on-going assessment of whether wing production can be done more efficiently in France or Germany. If one day they move, it won't have much to do with brexit.
But no-one has clearly said
how Brexit will impact Airbus if Britain crashes out without a deal? I raised the spectre of Airbus UK parts being no longer certified and I was told that
with a flick of a pen that particular bogey-man will be eliminated. Britain imports and exports plenty of goods from
non - eu nations daily. Are we now saying that this is just a pure fluke, and with Britain no longer being in the CU / SM, the world starts turning the other way?
This is, as you say, merely Airbus using Brexit as a means to an end. 'We are leaving the UK, and it's due to Brexit'. Even if Brexit hadn't happened, since the sales of the EADS shares by BAE in 2007, this was
always on the cards.