Airbus to sue in US, German spying row

Baku. 1May. REPORT.AZ/ Aviation giant Airbus says it will file a criminal complaint over allegations that German intelligence helped the US carry out industrial espionage.

German media reports suggest the country's spy agency BND collected data on European firms at the behest of the US National Security Agency.

An Airbus statement quoted by AFP news agency said it was "alarmed" by the reports but did not want to speculate.

The company said it had asked for more information from the German government.

"We are aware that large companies in the sector, like ours, are targets of espionage," read the statement.

"However, in this case we are alarmed because there is concrete suspicion."

Leaks from a secret BND document suggest that its monitoring station at Bad Aibling checked whether European companies were breaking trade embargos after a request from the NSA.