Airbus set to cut 15,000 jobs across the world
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July 2, 2020
Airbus has announced that it plans on cutting 15,000 jobs across the world, as it continues to deal with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The cuts are expected to take place no later than summer 2021.
As a result of the COVID-19 crisis, Airbus’ commercial aircraft business activity has dropped by close to 40% in recent months, as the industry faces these unprecedented times. Commercial aircraft production rates have been adapted accordingly, however, with air traffic not expected to recover to pre-COVID levels before 2023 and potentially as late as 2025, Airbus now needs to take additional measures to reflect the post-COVID-19 industry outlook.
134,000 people work for Airbus worldwide, with around a tenth of them in the UK. In total, the job losses will be 5,000 positions in France; 5,100 positions in Germany; 900 positions in Spain; 1,700 positions in the UK; and 1,300 positions at Airbus’ other worldwide sites.
These figures include the Airbus subsidiaries Stelia in France and Premium AEROTEC in Germany.
The UK cuts would happen at its two sites in Broughton in Flintshire and Filton, Bristol.
Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said: “Airbus is facing the gravest crisis this industry has ever experienced. The measures we have taken so far have enabled us to absorb the initial shock of this global pandemic. Now, we must ensure that we can sustain our enterprise and emerge from the crisis as a healthy, global aerospace leader, adjusting to the overwhelming challenges of our customers. To confront that reality, we must now adopt more far-reaching measures.
“Our management team and our Board of Directors are fully committed to limiting the social impact of this adaptation. We thank our governmental partners as they help us preserve our expertise and know-how as much as possible and have played an important role in limiting the social impact of this crisis in our industry. The Airbus teams and their skills and competences will enable us to pursue our ambition to pioneer a sustainable future for aerospace.”
