Airbus // Universal Registration Document 2021
Risk Factors / 2 Business-Related Risks
and digitalisation. Moreover, a main challenge is to maintain an appropriate level of security of complex and legacy industrial systems to face attacks from hackers, who are improving their techniques and skills at incredible speed. Finally, the Company is exposed to reputational damage and destabilisation from the growing volume of false and malicious information injected into media and social networks. The Company continues to make significant efforts to prevent such risks from materialising. Targeted investments will reduce but not eradicate likelihood and impact through strengthening the business cyber resilience. The materialisation of one or several of such risks could lead to severe damage including but not limited to significant financial loss, need for additional investment, contractual or reputational performance degradation, loss of intellectual property, loss of business data and information, operational business degradation or disruptions, and product or services malfunctions. Loss of personal data may result in administrative, civil or criminal liabilities including significant fines and penalties. and government activities. Such a cyclical pattern had already been observed in the past but historically diminished, due to the significant growth of the Company’s commercial aircraft business relative to its other activities, until the global pandemic arrived. The commercial helicopter market in which the Company operates has shown cyclical trends and could also be influenced by factors listed above. The civil & parapublic market has shown signs of recovery in 2021, notably in the intermediate single engine helicopter segment led by the private & business aviation market. However, the offshore oil & gas market remains soft with low level of investments in the acquisition of new platforms. Flight hours have decreased slightly due to the pandemic however Airbus Helicopters has increased revenues thanks to the wide- ranging portfolio of service solutions. types of its aircraft or other products, and the Company’s customers may postpone delivery or cancel orders. In addition to affecting demand for its products, catastrophic events could disrupt the Company’s internal operations or its ability to deliver products and services. Disruptions may be related to threats to infrastructure, personnel security and physical security and may arise from terrorism, conflict and civil unrests, malicious acts, natural disasters, fire, damaging weather, and other types of incidents such as drone air traffic disruption. Effects of such events may be amplified if they happen on Single Points Of Failure (SPOFs) for which dedicated identification and mitigations are monitored. Any resulting impact on the Company’s production, services or information systems could have a significant adverse effect on the Company’s operations, financial condition and results of operations as well as on its reputation and on its products and services.
The Company’s extensive information and communications systems, industrial environment, products and services are exposed to cyber security risks. Cyber security threats are rapidly changing and scenarios of attacks are becoming more sophisticated. The Company is exposed to a number of different cyber security risks, directly or through its supply chain, arising from actions that may be intentional and hostile, accidental or negligent. Some of the objectives of an attacker are espionage, influence, obstacle to functioning or lucrative. The main cyber security risks for the Company are intrusion in systems leading to data leakage, attacks impacting the resilience of industrial systems and compromising products and services. All of the above mentioned risks are heightened in the context of the increasingly common use of digital solutions by the Company (including greater use of cloud services, mobile devices, “internet of things”), increasingly capable adversaries and integration with the extended enterprise. Risks related to the Company’s industrial control systems, manufacturing processes and products are growing with the increase of interconnectivity Past terrorist attacks, public health crises and the spread of disease (such as the global COVID-19 pandemic or the H1N1 flu pandemic or the Ebola epidemic in 2013-2016) have demonstrated that such events may negatively affect public perception of air travel safety, which may in turn reduce demand for air travel and commercial aircraft. The outbreak of wars, riots or political unrest or uncertainties may also affect the willingness of the public to travel by air. Furthermore, major aircraft accidents may have a negative effect on the public’s or regulators’ perception of the safety of a given class of aircraft, a given airline, form of design or air traffic management. Flight activity restart requires particular focus on safety aspects such as aircraft destorage and pilot training. As a result of such factors, the aeronautic industry may be confronted with additional sudden or prolonged reduced demand for air transport and be compelled to take additional costly security and safety measures. The Company may, therefore, suffer from a decline in demand for all or certain evolutionary factors such as the volume of business-related travel or the growth of low-cost passenger airline business models or the impact of e-commerce on air cargo volumes or consolidation of airlines. The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting health and economic crisis can amplify the impact of these factors, with the volatility observed during 2020 and 2021. The factors described above may have a material impact on the commercial aircraft industry and therefore, on the Company’s financial condition and results of operations. In 2021, the commercial aircraft business segment of Airbus recorded total revenues of €36.1 billion – representing 69% of the Company’s revenues. See “– Information on the Company’s Activities – 1.1.2 Airbus (Commercial Aircraft)”. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Company observed that the downturn in its commercial aircraft business was partially mitigated by its defence, space Cyber Security Risks
Physical Security, Terrorism, Pandemics and Other Catastrophic Events
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Airbus / Registration Document 2021
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