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Airbus CEO says politics in Japan influences aircraft orders

Airbus President and Chief Executive Officer Fabrice Bregier delivers a speech at the Global Management Forum in Tokyo October 21, 2013. REUTERS/Toru Hanai

TOKYO (Reuters) - Airbus chief executive Fabrice Bregier said on Monday that politics in Japan can influence new aircraft purchases by the nation's airlines.

"It is clear the political environment has some influence on business as we can see here in Japan, or in Europe and the United States," Bregier said on Monday during a speech at the Nikkei Global Management Forum in Tokyo.

Bregier was speaking two weeks after Japan Airlines <9201.T> ordered dozens of Airbus A350s, its first jets from the European company. Bregier cited the Japan Airlines order as a decision based on business concerns.

The Japan Airlines order cracked Boeing Co's half-century dominance in Japan, where it boasts an 80 percent market share.

(Reporting by Tim Kelly; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)