PARIS (Reuters) - Airbus said on Thursday it stood ready if needed to help its customers overcome growing fears of a squeeze on aircraft financing as the industry suffers a knock-on effect from Europe's debt crisis.
French banks that specialize in bankrolling the $80 billion annual jetliner market have scaled down their lending amid problems in securing access to dollars, as U.S. investors withhold deposits from those perceived as exposed to Greece.
Airbus Chief Executive Tom Enders told a French newspaper that he did not yet foresee the need for drastic action, but expressed some concern over the dwindling supply of funding.
"In the short term we are worried to see that access to bank credit could once again become scarce, in particular long-term financing in dollars from some European banks," Chief Executive Tom Enders told Le Figaro in an interview.
However, he stressed that other sources of finance including U.S. and Chinese banks and capital markets remained available.
Asked whether Airbus would offer support to its clients, he said, "We did it in 2008-2009, and if needed we are ready to do it again."
Enders' comments were published in early editions of Friday's Le Figaro and released late on Thursday.
Shares in Airbus parent EADS fell 7.9 percent to 20.89 euros earlier on Thursday as European shares slumped to a 26-month closing low.
Airbus also said earlier it would buy a majority stake in a German parts supplier hit by liquidity problems.
Despite record numbers of aircraft leaving Airbus (EAD.PA) and Boeing (BA.N) to meet demand from rising economies, doubts are spreading as to how the growth will be financed.
Lenders and airlines were warned earlier this week that the global aviation industry could be hit by Europe's debt crisis and worries surrounding French banks, which took part in 30 percent of aircraft transactions in 2010.
French banks are fighting to restore confidence after suffering a sharp summer sell-off, driven by fears they are too dependent on wholesale market funding and would be ill-equipped to cope with the fallout from a Greek debt default.
On the business outlook for Airbus, Enders said the France-based company was heading for one of its strongest years in 2011 as it raises output, despite the recent market turmoil.
He did not see any sign of a recession.
He said he would a few months' delay in starting the final assembly of the first A350, due late in 2011, if that meant assembly lines were fully prepared, than risk a repeat of bottlenecks that plagued the A380 superjumbo a few years ago.
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