Airbus Group has confirmed that it will seek compensation from Poland for the cancellation of a 50-unit order for H225M multirole helicopters.
Subsidiary Airbus Helicopters had been working on the tender for at least four years before the selection of the Caracal in April 2015.
However, a change of government later that year brought to power the Law and Justice party, which had been consistently opposed to the deal. Discussions over industrial offset dragged on until the talks ended in acrimony in early October.
Speaking on a third-quarter results call on 26 October, chief financial officer Harald Wilhelm said the group “had spent years trusting that it was in a fair competition” and that it would now “seek remedies” from the Polish government.
Both the Airbus group and Airbus Helicopters are “disappointed” by Warsaw’s decision and the subsequent launching of a new acquisition programme under an “urgent operational requirement”, Wilhelm says.
“Our offer would have committed us to build a competitive aerospace industry in Poland,” he adds.
Despite the loss of the Polish contract, Airbus Helicopters received an order in August for 30 H225Ms from Kuwait. However, Wilhelm notes that the deal is yet to be finalised and therefore is not yet in the backlog. “We expect that by year-end,” he adds.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
