Defence
Taking flight
Germany’s Ministry of Defence has its eye on an Airbus – or three. Defence minister Ursula von der Leyen has plans to purchase an A350 by the end of 2019 to bolster the government’s flagging fleet. The A350, which will cost an estimated €150m, could be the first of three that the ministry buys from Airbus. The prospective purchase follows Angela Merkel’s aviatory mishap in November: she arrived late at the G20 summit in Argentina after being forced to take a commercial Iberia flight to Buenos Aires via Madrid because several electronic systems on the ageing A340-300 she was travelling on failed. She missed a meeting with Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping.