Airbus to cut 10,000 jobs across Europe
7:40 AM March 1
European aircraft manufacturer Airbus has announced it will cut 10,000 jobs across Europe over the next four years.
Airbus has been hit hard by a fall in the value of the United States dollar and costly delays with its A-380 super jumbo.
There will be no sackings among its 57,000 permanent employees, but temporary staff and subcontractors will lose their jobs when their contracts expire.
Unions say they will fight the job losses but Airbus says it is facing huge challenges and is still inefficient.
Airbus has factories across Europe and is co-owned by several companies.
Disagreements have delayed a restructuring plan.
Problems with the flagship A-380 super jumbo have also hit the company, with compensation due to airlines for late delivery of planes.
Airbus president Louis Gallois says the biggest job losses will be in France, followed by Germany, Britain and Spain.
Mr Gallois has told a news conference in Toulouse the company faces several problems.
"Our industrial set-up and our organisation is not optimised because we're not efficient enough," he said.
"Our second weakness is that we are making too much internally.
"It means we don't get the best cost we could get if we opened to wider competition."
Airbus says the future A-350 series of airliners will be assembled and fitted out at its headquarters at Toulouse, southern France.
A third assembly line for the A-320 series will be established at the factory in Hamburg, in Germany.
- ABC/AFP Source: ABC/AFP
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