Airbus wins reprieve from Canadian sanctions on Russian titanium

MONTREAL/OTTAWA, April 23 (Reuters) - Canada has granted Airbus a waiver to allow it to use Russian titanium in its manufacturing after becoming the first Western government to ban supplies of the strategic metal in its latest package of measures triggered by the war in Ukraine.

The move gives Airbus flexibility in its Canadian plants and is expected to allay concerns that its core operations could be hit by effectively banning the import to Canada of its European-built jets that rely most heavily on lightweight titanium.

"Airbus is aware of the Canadian government imposing sanctions on VSMPO and has obtained the necessary authorisation to secure Airbus operations in compliance with the applicable sanctions," Airbus Canada said in response to a Reuters query.

It did not elaborate on the approvals or say how long they would remain in effect.

The Canadian government did not respond to requests for comment. (Reporting by Allison Lampert, David Ljunggren, Tim Hepher, Additional reporting by Andrew Gray, Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Alistair Bell)