European planemaker, Airbus has announced plans to slash 15,000 jobs worldwide, translating to 15% of its workforce in the U.K.
The job cuts include 5,000 positions in France, 5,100 in Germany, 900 in Spain and 1,700 in Britain. Another 1,300 will be cut at other Airbus sites around the world, and about 900 are part of a previously planned restructuring.
The firm said the U.K. cuts would fall only on the commercial aircraft division at its two sites at Broughton in Flintshire and Filton, Bristol.
In April, the planemaker revealed that the company was bleeding cash at an unprecedented speed, which may threaten the company’s very existence. By then, the company had already begun implementing government-assisted furlough schemes starting with 3,000 workers in France.
Furthermore, as the BBC reported, the firm was planning to cut aircraft production by a third, but that has now increased to 40%. This is because of travel restrictions that led to most airlines grounding their fleet, thus placing no new orders. Henceforth, instead of producing more than 60 of the Airbus A320 model each month, it will produce only 40 while also reducing A350 rates to 6.
The planemaker says it does not expect air traffic to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2023 at the earliest and potentially not until 2025.
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