Airbus to cut some 15,000 jobs

Airbus announced Tuesday the cut of around 15,000 jobs, or 11% of its workforce. The aircraft manufacturer does not rule out dry layoffs to deal with the “unprecedented crisis” suffered by the air transport sector struck down by the Covid-19.

About 5,100 positions will be cut in Germany, 5,000 in France, 1,700 in the United Kingdom, 900 in Spain and 1,300 on the group’s other sites worldwide, the European aircraft manufacturer said on Tuesday evening in a press release. Commercial aviation activity has dropped nearly 40% in recent months, he said.

“Cyclical” crisis

Airbus unions have declared their opposition to any “forced dismissal” and called for negotiations in the face of a crisis deemed “cyclical”.

Airbus, which cut its production rates in April by more than a third to cope with a collapsed air transport market, is “facing the most serious crisis this sector has ever known”, said explained the group’s executive chairman, Guillaume Faury.

Thousands of suppliers affected

These job cuts should almost exclusively affect the commercial aviation branch of the group, also present in defense, space and helicopters, as well as several subsidiaries such as the French Stelia Aerospace or the German Premium Aerotec.

For several weeks, Mr. Faury, leader of a group with 135,000 employees, including 81,000 in his commercial aircraft branch, warns that the crisis caused by the epidemic due to the Coronavirus puts at stake the “survival of Airbus ”.

Behind Airbus, thousands of suppliers, mostly small and medium-sized enterprises, are affected. The equipment supplier Daher has already announced the elimination of a maximum of 1,300 positions out of the group’s 10,000.

Boeing cuts 10% of its workforce

The big rival, the American Boeing, announced to him at the end of April its intention to cut 10% of its workforce, or 16,000 people, via voluntary departures and layoffs.

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