Airbus boss warns production set to fall 40 per cent over next two years
Airbus boss Guillaume Faury said today that production would drop 40 per cent over the next two years due to the coronavirus crisis, worse than the company had originally suggested.
Speaking to German media, Faury said: “For the next two years – 2020/21 – we assume that production and deliveries will be 40 per cent lower than originally planned”.
Previously, the planemaking giant had said that it would cut production by a third across its models in response to the worst crisis in aviation history.
However, Faury had warned that such a drop was not the worst case scenario given the unpredictable nature of the coronavirus situation, which has seen many airlines cancel or delay orders for planes due to the lack of demand.
The survival of the manufacturing giant is at stake, he warned back in April, as it is hemorrhaging cash at “unprecedented speed”.
Last month there were reports that Airbus would be forced to cut 10,000 jobs due to the crisis, in line with similar redundancies at aerospace rival Boeing.
Today Faury said that the exact scale of the job cuts would be announced at the end of the month, saying the firm would do everything it could to avoid firing staff.
None of Airbus’ assembly lines will be closed, he confirmed, but production at each site will continue at a slower pace.
In the first quarter of the year the firm’s profit halved as the crisis gripped the global aviation market, and Faury warned that the same was to be expected for the second quarter.
Having lost €8bn in the first quarter alone, Airbus is taking every step to reduce cash flow out of the company, he said.
Around 3,200 UK staff have been placed on the furlough scheme, with the firm having already done the same to 3,000 French employees.