European Investment Bank grants Airbus record €3 billion loan to drive aerospace innovation and industrial competitiveness
The European Investment Bank signed a €1 billion initial tranche of an unprecedented €3 billion financing package for Airbus, aiming to bolster the planemaker's research, development and innovation through 2030 as the EU sharpens its industrial strategy.
The deal
The European Investment Bank (EIB) committed €3 billion ($3.42 billion) to Airbus in what both sides described as the largest corporate loan ever authorised by the EU's financial arm. A first €1 billion tranche was signed on Monday in Brussels, with the remaining amount to be disbursed later under the same framework.
This facility reinforces the depth of our strategic partnership with the EIB, supporting the commercial and defence research that drives European industrial competitiveness. The highly competitive terms and extended flexibility grant us the maximum optionality to manage our balance sheet, minimise the cost of carry and sustain our long-term investments in aerospace innovation.
Strategic context
The financing falls under the EIB's TechEU initiative, designed to channel capital into critical technologies and strengthen the EU's technological sovereignty amid intensifying competition from the United States and China. It follows a recent move by Airbus, Thales and Leonardo to combine satellite activities in a bid to create a European rival to Elon Musk's Starlink.
The EIB Group is mobilising its full potential to strengthen Europe's technological autonomy, industrial base and economic competitiveness.
Terms and investment scope
Airbus will use the loans to fund investments through 2030 in advanced technologies for commercial aviation, as well as in security and defence systems. Projects will be carried out in France, Germany and Spain, reinforcing the continent's aerospace and defence ecosystems. The EIB highlighted the package's long maturities and predictable financing structure, which give Airbus flexibility without constituting the kind of direct launch aid that triggered past WTO disputes with the United States over Boeing subsidies.
This new financing, of an unprecedented amount in the EIB's history, aims to give Airbus not only the capacity but also the flexibility needed to invest long-term in research, development and innovation, both in the field of commercial aviation and in security and defence.
Signing ceremony
The signing in Brussels was attended by EIB president Nádia Calviño, Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury, chief financial officer Thomas Toepfer, and several EIB vice-presidents including Robert de Groot, Ambroise Fayolle and Nicola Beer. Calviño cast the deal as a direct response to member states' calls for the EIB to invest more heavily in defence and competitiveness, moving beyond traditional infrastructure and research financing.
