Airbus is facing the most serious crisis the industry has ever known, said its chief executive. (File)
Paris:
European aircraft manufacturer Airbus announced Tuesday that it plans to cut around 15,000 jobs worldwide, or 11% of its total workforce, in response to the coronavirus it called “the most serious crisis” the industry has known.
The reductions must be implemented by the summer of 2021, Airbus said in a statement, and follow an almost 40% drop in commercial aviation activity in recent months.
“Since air traffic should not return to its pre-COVID levels before 2023 and potentially until 2025, Airbus must now take additional measures to reflect the outlook for the industry after COVID-19,” he said. in a press release.
The company said 5,000 jobs would be cut in France, 5,100 in Germany, 900 in Spain, 1,700 jobs in Britain and 1,300 jobs at other Airbus global locations.
He warned that “compulsory actions cannot be ruled out at this stage,” indicating that some employees may be laid off.
He said the plan would now be discussed with the unions and that Airbus would seek to use various measures to achieve reductions, including voluntary departures, early retirement and long-term partial unemployment schemes.
“Airbus is facing the most serious crisis that this sector has ever known,” said general manager Guillaume Faury.
The company had already announced in April that it was cutting production of its planes by about a third. Faury said the layoffs were necessary to deal with the new reality.
“We now need to take more ambitious measures,” said Faury.
He said management was “fully committed to limiting the social impact of this accommodation”.
The aviation industry has been hit by travel restrictions imposed to contain the epidemic, with companies around the world still unsure when they will be able to return the aircraft to the ground in flight.
The announcement comes as union sources told AFP that the French airline Air France would cut 7,500 jobs by the end of 2022 as part of a cost-cutting campaign that gained urgency over the following the pandemic.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
