Airbus says has received many requests to defer deliveries

PARIS (Reuters) – Airbus said on Thursday it had received multiple requests from customers to defer deliveries after travel demand collapsed due to the coronavirus epidemic.

The planemaker is wrestling with “the gravest crisis in the history of the aviation industry”, CEO Guillaume Faury said in a video message to shareholders.

Airbus is talking to customers to find solutions on a “case-by-case and aircraft-by-aircraft basis”, he said.

The video was published as Airbus held an annual meeting conducted largely remotely, with only a handful of investors expected in Amsterdam where Airbus lawyers were on hand to field questions before shareholders formally approve a new chairman.

(Reporting by Tim Hepher; editing by Jason Neely)