More fools they - and serves them right for attempting to collude with one side of an internal UK argument over brexit.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business...rexit-warning/
Airbus fury over loss of RAF deal after Brexit warning
Airbus bosses are furious after the Government spurred them to publish a dire forecast of the impact of Brexit before handing a prize £2bn RAF contract to US rival Boeing without a competition.
The Telegraph has learnt that last month’s bombshell warning from Airbus that it could be forced to leave the UK came after discussions with senior Remainer ministers preparing for the Chequers summit....... Sources close to Airbus said the company decided to warn about the future of as many as 15,000 of its UK employees and 110,000 in its supply chain after discussions with the Government. It is understood the ministers argued that industry should speak out on the highly contentious issue and aimed to create what insiders described as “room for manoeuvre” at Chequers. The warning from Airbus allowed Mrs May and her officials to present to the Cabinet a more robust assessment of business disruption a hard or no-deal Brexit could cause and argue for Britain to make more concessions to the EU.
But having “got them out of trouble”, the source said Airbus is now furious with the Government.
It has emerged in defence circles that the Ministry of Defence has all but finalised
a £2bn deal to buy E-7 “Wedgetail” early warning jets from its bitter rival Boeing. The aircraft will take over from the RAF’s fleet of worn-out E-3 “Sentry” jets, which were also built by the US company. Airbus and other aerospace companies have been lobbying for the contract to be awarded on the basis of open bidding, rather than handed to Boeing.
The prospect of no competition and “buying off the shelf” from Boeing, which is unlikely to involve UK companies in the contract, has left Airbus “incandescent”, sources said. Alex Ashbourne-Walmsley of defence think-tank RUSI said: “I’m surprised that the British Government could behave in such a cavalier fashion towards Airbus when the company helped them apply pressure on Brexiteers and now in return it faces issuing humiliated......