The European aircraft maker Airbus hailed on Wednesday the judgement by an appeal body of the World Trade Organization (WTO), saying it is "a big win for Europe" because it showed a favor to Airbus in disputes with U.S. rival Boeing over government subsidies for aircraft industry.
Since October 2004, Boeing and Airbus have been involved in a row, accusing each other of having illegal state support to gain unfair advantages for export. The two manufacturers filed two complaints simultaneously before WTO denouncing public aid granted to each other.
The Appellate Body of WTO excluded on Wednesday certain disputed EU measures to Airbus from the list of "serious prejudice, " and in addition, "reversed the findings of the expert group that had established that the financing offered to Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom to develop the A380 were contingent on export performance."
Therefore the report confirmed that "government loans are a legal instrument and that none of the government loans made to Airbus over the past 40 years were prohibited," and neither did the loans bring detriments to U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing, the France-based European group said in statement.
"This is a big win for Europe. We are pleased with the results," Airbus President and CEO Tom Enders commented in a statement.
"We see no significant consequences for Airbus or the European support system from today's decision," said Rainer Ohler, Airbus' Head of Public Affairs and Communications, which means the current cooperation system linking France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom can keep on working.
However, as both sides reacted to previous WTO rulings, Airbus and Boeing once again claimed respective victory and both welcomed the Wednesday judgement.
In fact, this new report upheld part of EU claims against the previous WTO panel rulings that largely in favor of the United States, but left bulk of the previous ruling intact.
According to Airbus, a separate case before the WTO, which found that Boeing has benefited from substantial illegal subsidies, is currently under appeal and expecting a final outcome later this year.