At Airbus, partners and suppliers are part of an extended family, and they play a crucial role in the common business success.

Around 80% of Airbus’ activity is sourced. The company works with more than 12,000 suppliers worldwide that provide products and services for flying and non-flying parts.

Airbus continuously develops its supplier base, with an overall sourcing volume across the company valued at approximately €49.6 billion. Airbus has identified global sourcing as one of its long-term objectives and aims to source 40% outside Western Europe and the U.S. by 2020. Airbus’ external procurement is equivalent to over two-thirds of the company’s revenues.

Direct and indirect procurement

Suppliers for direct procurement are grouped in the following commodities for flying parts:

• Aerostructures
• Equipment and systems
• Material and parts
• Propulsion
• Cabin Procurement
• Specialised IT and services

These clusters may vary slightly depending upon the product area.

Indirect procurement of goods and services – also known as non-flying parts, which range from buildings to machines and tools, engineering services, consulting, IT and office equipment – is under the responsibility of Airbus’ shared service unit, Airbus General Procurement.

What does Airbus look for?

Airbus seeks partners and suppliers who share the company’s values. Transparency and trust are essential ingredients to work for the Airbus team. Partners and suppliers will need a proven track record of operational reliability and delivering on shared commitments. In particular, Airbus looks for partners who are ahead of the game, offering creative, innovative and digital solutions in a complex environment. This ensures Airbus provides first-class qualitative services to all of its customers.

Business Integrity:

A shared commitment with our suppliers

How to become part of the Airbus team

Companies interested in joining the Airbus supplier team are asked to register via the Airbus ePROC strategic procurement tool. 

If collaboration possibilities are identified, an Airbus buyer will issue an invitation to participate in a call-for-tender, and login details will be provided.

• The Airbus ePROC strategic procurement tool allows companies to highlight their capabilities to Airbus’ team of buyer experts, who will be in contact when an opportunity arises.
• The Airbus ePROC strategic procurement tool also allows buyers and suppliers to exchange requirements and proposals online during the bidding process. The duration of the bidding process varies, and depends on the nature of the call-for-tender.

For small and medium-sized companies, the best points of contact may be Airbus’ 1st and 2nd Tier suppliers. It is suggested that small and medium-sized companies use their contacts with such suppliers.

For existing Airbus suppliers

Airbus Procurement is responsible for providing externally-sourced goods and services that meet quality requirements, on-time and on-cost, as agreed with the Airbus programs and operations functions.

It is important that consistent standards, policies and processes are applied across all Airbus entities and its supply chain.

All suppliers are urged to work within the established Airbus framework.

Airbus standards

Airbus requests that its suppliers commit to the Code of Conduct and integrate these principles into their own supply chain. Based on the IFBEC model, a new version of the Supplier Code Of Conduct (SCoC) developed in 2020 is now available. This document is the new applicable SCoC and reinforces our business relations. The updates concern the development of a product safety chapter and the taking into account of benchmarks on sustainability. You will also find "the supplier commitment" that Airbus requires its suppliers to sign to demonstrate their commitment to our sustainability principles.

PeopleSafety@Work

At Airbus we pioneer sustainable aerospace for a safe and united world.

Our supply chain is equally important in our purpose and we therefore rely on a shared commitment with our extended enterprises to embrace and actively support our ambition to create a positive safety culture together.

We believe more can be done to significantly improve ways of working. This is the purpose of the letter below to highlight to our supply chain partners how we can work together to reach the target: 0 accident.