Planemaking giant Airbus said it consumed €8 billion in cash in the first quarter as chief executive officer Guillaume Faury warned of the “gravest crisis the aerospace industry has ever known”.

Some €3.6 billion of the cash hit came from a payment to settle a bribery case, eating up reserves while Airbus grapples with the coronavirus crisis, the company said in a statement Wednesday.

Mr Faury warned employees in a letter Friday that Airbus must quickly adapt to a shrinking aerospace sector as the pandemic undermines demand for new aircraft and threatens existing orders as airlines run short of money. A plan to slash output by a third announced earlier this month may not reflect the worst-case scenario, he said.

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