Olivier Andriès (GIFAS): “I have no assurance” that CORAC’s 2026 and 2027 budgets will be supplemented by the State

Aeronautical research, the State is still blocking the roadmap for low-carbon aviation and the future single-aisle aircraft from Airbus, the successor to the A320). Asked by La Tribune to find out if the French aeronautical industry had finally received assurances from the government on the 2026 and 2027 budgets of CORAC (Council for Civil Aeronautical Research), the president of GIFAS, Olivier Andriès, also general director of Safran, was very clear: “No, I have no assurance at this stage.”

Neither for 2026, nor for 2027, he clarified. “As president of GIFAS, I simply hope that the commitments the President of the Republic made will be kept, that is to say the 300 million euros (per year over the period 2024-2027, editor's note). That's all we ask. Period,” he explained in London to a few journalists.

A budget that trickles down to mid-sized companies and SMEs

For 2026, the DGAC (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) is still waiting for the financial supplement from program 190 to finance the planned technological projects. That's almost 250 million euros waiting. “CORAC is a tool to cement all the players in the French aeronautical sector around the prime contractors. Budgets trickle down when part of CORAC's money goes to mid-sized companies and French SMEs,” recalled the Safran boss.

A reduction (or even absence) of budget allocated by the State would risk putting several small companies on the sidelines for the future Airbus single-aisle aircraft, which should enter service between 2035 and 2040. Companies which would then be on the sidelines for 30 to 40 years, the duration of the program. This uncertainty is all the more worrying for manufacturers as it has persisted for several months. A major social issue as the A320 represents around 150,000 jobs, according to a Senate information report published in 2025.

Britain supports its industry

Great Britain, for its part, has very well understood the challenges of the program which will succeed the A320. This is why the British government, through ATI (Aerospace Technology Institute), supports its aeronautical industry. Between 2025 and 2035, it will invest 2.3 billion pounds (2.75 billion euros). Or 275 million euros per year over a period of ten years. ATI manages and coordinates the technological roadmap for British aeronautical R&T (Research & Technology). It prioritizes three technological axes: propulsion, equipment and aerostructure.

London has “decided to support the British supply chain to optimize and maximize British content on the next Airbus medium-haul aircraft? This is really ATI’s objective,” explained Olivier Andriès. As the third British aeronautical group in the civil sector (nearly two billion euros in turnover and 5,500 jobs in the United Kingdom) behind Airbus and the engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce, Safran also has the ambition to board the future single-aisle aircraft of the European manufacturer from Great Britain in the field of equipment (actuators and landing gear in particular). “The British authorities consider us as a British player in the United Kingdom,” said the CEO of Safran. Especially since the French equipment manufacturer will invest 600 million euros in total between 2022 and 2028 to support the ramp-up in civil aeronautics and dynamism in the military, as well as to prepare for the future.

Machine-translated from French