Citing the need to reduce costs, Airbus announced it would cut as many as 1,164 positions throughout the company on Tuesday. The aircraft manufacturer did not state how many workers would lose their jobs.
Airbus is based and has its main assembly facility at Toulouse, France. Airbus relies on several facilities in located in Germany, Spain, and other countries to produce airplane parts. According to the French website The Local, the move will cost 640 jobs in France and a total of 429 jobs in Germany.
The worldwide slowdown in aerospace business has hit Airbus particularly hard. Just last August, Airbus announced slashing production of A380 jets - the world's largest and only superjumbo jetliner in service, due to slowed demand for four-engined jets. On October, its helicopter manufacturing subsidiary also announced to cut around 600 jobs due to a weak market. It is also to note that Airbus has been in an intense legal fight with US-based competitor Boeing, accusing each other of receiving illegal amounts of government aid.
The job cuts came several days after Airbus announced plans to restructure the company, which will consist of merging its parent company with its commercial jetliner unit. The company said previously in a Reuters article that the move is aimed to reduce bureaucracy and help simplify the brand.
Airbus stated that the cuts will be done through voluntary departures, early retirement, relocation of jobs, or through layoffs if needed. The company stated that the cuts are planned to be finalized on 2018.
The plan was announced to its union groups on November 29. Labor groups in the company threatened strikes if there is no agreement on conditions for the cuts. They accuse Airbus of trying to increase profits at worker's expense since that company has booked orders amounting to nearly 1.0 trillion euros ($1.5 trillion USD).
Airbus is the manufacturer the superjumbo A380 and the popular A320 jetliner.
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