Airbus defence division plans to cut more than 2,300 jobs

The plan foresees the reduction of 2,362 positions until the end of 2021, of which 829 would be in Germany, 357 in Britain, 630 in Spain, 404 in France and 141 in other countries, according to a statement.

February 20, 2020 05:40 am | Updated 05:40 am IST

The logo of Airbus is pictured at the aircraft builder's headquarters of Airbus in Colomiers near Toulouse, France. File

The logo of Airbus is pictured at the aircraft builder's headquarters of Airbus in Colomiers near Toulouse, France. File

The defence business of Airbus on Wednesday laid out plans to cut more than 2,300 jobs, citing a flat space market and postponed defence contracts.

The aircraft maker said its Airbus Defence and Space division had entered consultation with the company's European works council on the planned cutbacks.

The plan foresees the reduction of 2,362 positions until the end of 2021, of which 829 would be in Germany, 357 in Britain, 630 in Spain, 404 in France and 141 in other countries, according to a statement.

The head of the defence business said on Saturday that talks were about to start with labour representatives as the German-based group retrenches following setbacks with its A400M military transporter.

Recurring technical problems with the A400M led the German air force to refuse delivery of two of the aircraft last autumn.

The group has also taken a €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) charge on the worsening sales outlook, with a German ban on defence exports to Saudi Arabia causing Airbus Defence and Space to lose a promising potential customer, Dirk Hoke said.

Airbus Defence and Space, formed in 2014 as part of a broader restructuring, employs 34,000 staff - 13,000 of them in Germany - and contributes around a fifth of revenues to parent group Airbus.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.