Airbus fined $127 million over Taiwan missile dispute

Airbus announced on 13 January that it had been fined $127 million for a dispute dating from 1992 over missile sales to Taiwan by the Matra group.

Airbus, which agreed to sell China 184 A320 planes by 2020, stated that it had been ordered to pay the fine ‘for a complaint of breach of contract concerning the sale of missiles.’

Matra Defence, which joined the Airbus group in 1998, said it was ‘studying the fine and evaluating next steps’.

In a separate case, the company said it was in discussions with prosecutors in Munich that could close a German investigation into alleged corruption related to the sale of Eurofighter jets to Austria.

In February 2017, Austria sued Airbus over a 2003 Eurofighter deal that was long alleged to have been highly dubious, seeking up to $1.2 billion in damages.

Hans Peter Doskozil, Defence Minister of Austria, said the lawsuit accused Airbus and the Eurofighter consortium of deliberately hoodwinking Vienna over the $2.43 billion order.

At the time Tom Enders,chief of Airbus, was head of the defence division of European Aeronautic Defence Space Company, which became the Airbus Group in 2014.

Airbus commented ‘it will reveal the results when the investigation is closed.’