OPINION: Airbus and Corporate Dishonesty

Countries arm their soldiers, marines, airmen and sailors with deadly weapons. In some cases, such as planes or submarines, those weapons would be powerful enough to wipe out entire cities if they were to be misused. We must also be able to trust the companies that provide them with the weapons.

Unfortunately, the major French aerospace company Airbus is proving, repeatedly, that it is too dishonest to be trusted. The foreign company was linked to numerous unethical activities resulting in settlements from lawsuits.

When a company takes actions that are not honest, nor ethical, the United States government should not contract with them. Companies that break the rules fall into that category. Airbus has admitted in legal filings to breaking the rules.

The most recent example came just a few months ago, as reported by Reuters on November 30, 2022, when a court in France signed off on a 16-million-euro settlement linked to bribery in Libya and Kazakhstan. A Paris court accepted the settlement and Reuters reported, “The prosecutor said Airbus had already paid more than $3 billion in fines for corruption three years ago, and that the company had cooperated with authorities.”

The long investigation by the Paris court stemmed from three allegations against Airbus. The firm Willkie Compliance put out a report on December 7, 2022, noted, “between 2006 and 2011 a subsidiary of Airbus’ predecessor EADS NV used intermediaries to transfer € 6 million to gain access to the son of Muammar Qadhafi, the president of Libya, and his chief of staff, and seal a lucrative contract for the sale of 12 aircraft to the Libyan carrier Afriqiyah Airways.” The second allegation against Airbus related to two Airbus companies in Kazakhstan that allegedly paid a company with close ties to the president of that country however there was no record of services rendered for the payment. The third allegation related to improper payments to a government official. All of these resulted in the settlement.

This case grew out of a larger corruption case that Airbus settled in 2020 with governments in France, the U.K. and the United States. According to a U.S. Justice Department press release issued on January 31, 2020, Airbus agreed to pay $3.9 billion to settle bribery allegations in that case. “Through bribes, Airbus allowed rampant corruption to invade the U.S. system,” U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liunoted. “Additionally, Airbus falsely reported information about their conduct to the U.S. government for more than five years in order to gain valuable licenses to export U.S. military technology. This case exemplifies the ability of our prosecutors and law enforcement to work with our foreign counterparts to ensure that corruption around the world is prevented and punished at the highest levels.” 

As recently as May of 2022, Airbus was bragging that it had just signed a contract with the Army that “includes a six-month base and 4.5 option years, with a potential total value of more than $1.5 Billion.” It has other military contracts as well as selling plenty of domestic aircraft.

For its part, Airbus says it has learned a lesson. “The company has taken significant steps since 2016 to reform itself,” it says, “underpinned by an unwavering commitment to integrity and continuous improvement.” After the 2022 settlement, the company continued to insist it was learning and growing: After thanking the court for its work, a lawyer for Airbus insisted that: “Today Airbus operates with the strictest integrity.”

It took far to long for the company to learn and grow with regard to the Russian war on Ukraine.  Airbus resisted E.U. and U.S. sanctions on Russia and only pledged in December of 2022 to finally stop purchasing titanium from Russia. It takes Airbus longer than most other corporations to change course in the face of pressure.

Airbus has a long way to go to prove it is no longer engaged in dishonesty. For now, we should be cautious, and we should make sure we don’t reward its past dishonest acts by giving it future defense contracts.


Dave Mohel is President of BlueSkin Solutions.