1,700 jobs lost as Airbus announces cuts to UK workforce
30 June 2020, 18:43
Aerospace giant Airbus is to cut 1,700 positions from its UK workforce in yet another blow to the international travel industry.
The news is a huge blow to its site at Broughton in north Wales, where wings are manufactured, and its other factory at Filton in Bristol.
The company currently employs around 13,500 people in the UK, and 134,000 around the world, but says that it is having to adapt after Covid-19 forced an almost total halt on commercial air travel.
It has also been announced a number of cuts will also be made to other positions, including 5,000 in France, 5,100 in Germany, 900 in Spain and 1,300 across other parts of the globe.
Read more: Easyjet looking at plans to close three of its bases and cut 5,000 staff
1700 jobs lost as Airbus announces cuts to UK workforce
These cuts will come into force no later than the summer of 2021.
The travel industry has ground to a halt following during the coronavirus pandemic, and Airbus says commercial aircraft business activity has dropped by close to 40% in recent months.
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.”
