Airbus Chief Operating Officer Guenter Butschek has stated in newspaper Tagesspiegel that Airbus Germany should pay the remaining €600 million ($829 million) of a disputed development loan for Airbus's A350 passenger plane now the aircraft maker has it has assigned 4,000 of the A350 jobs to Germany, 250% more than agreed as a condition for paying out the remaining part of the loan.
"We have therefore far exceeded our promises and believe there is now no reason to withhold the remaining payment," he said in an interview. "The ball is now in the government's court," Butschek was quoted as saying.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel will have to approve the loan but that will be delayed by coalition talks continue.
"The conditions for the payment of the loan to Airbus can only be determined by the future government," a spokeswoman for the federal ministry of economics said on Saturday. "The ministry does not want to bind the future government to any decisions made on this matter at the present time.