The corona crisis hits the aviation industry hard. Hardly any connections, many countries have completely closed their borders to international air traffic. This also affects the major aircraft manufacturers.
–
The European Airbus group has now given a bleak assessment of the impact of the crisis. In a letter, CEO Guillaume Faury apparently asked the company’s approximately 135,000 employees to prepare for job cuts and far-reaching cost-cutting measures.
The survival of Airbus would be at stake if the company takes no action, Faury said in Monday’s internal release to Reuters. The aircraft manufacturer has started implementing government-sponsored programs to take leave of around 3,000 workers in France, “but we may now need to plan more extensive measures,” said Faury.
–
To limit cash outflows, Airbus announced this month that it would reduce the production of smaller models by a third to 40 jets per month. In addition, the targets for larger aircraft have been reduced: the production of wide-body aircraft will be cut by up to 42 percent.
The real extent of the crisis could only become apparent in months
“In other words, we lost about a third of our business in just a few weeks,” wrote Faury in the letter that Bloomberg News previously reported. “And, frankly, that’s not even the worst case scenario we might have to face.” The chief executive said the new production plan would remain in effect until a more thorough assessment of demand is possible.
–
Faury assumes a period of two to three months. It was still too early to fully assess the effects of the corona virus on the aviation industry and the pace of a market recovery. Airbus did not comment on the internal communication.
–
