Wednesday February 19, 2020
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The aircraft manufacturer Airbus has long had fewer orders in its armaments and space sector. Now the group announces: Jobs will be lost in several countries – also in this country. It is open which locations are affected.
The European aerospace group Airbus plans to cut almost 2,400 jobs in its armaments division by the end of next year. 829 jobs in Germany were also affected, the head of Airbus Defense and Space, Dirk Hoke, announced in a letter to the employees that was available to the Reuters news agency. Negotiations with the European works council have already started this Wednesday.
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Of the 134,000 employees across the Group, 34,000 work in the armaments division, almost 13,000 of them in Germany. Hoke justified the cuts by saying that the division was suffering from the slump in orders in the space business and repeatedly postponed armaments projects. As a result, the company has received fewer new orders than products delivered in recent years and is in a difficult financial situation. “The numbers send a clear message: we have to act now,” Hoke wrote.
Airbus Defense and Space is working to improve competitiveness and reduce costs. However, this will not be enough, additional measures are needed, the letter said. “As part of these measures, we decided to reduce our workforce by 2362 jobs by the end of 2021.”
According to Hoke, 829 jobs are to be cut in Germany, 357 in the UK, 630 in Spain, 404 in France and 141 in other countries. The group will endeavor to find acceptable solutions. “I know this is an emotional thing,” Hoke wrote. “We have mastered challenging times before. And we always did it in a responsible and respectful way.” In the long term, the armaments division with its technology and product portfolio as well as large armament programs such as the Franco-German fighter jet and the Euro drone have positive prospects.
The fate of individual locations is unclear
Airbus Defense and Space first announced austerity measures in December. After the discussion with the European works council, negotiations with the employee representatives in the individual countries should start, Hoke had already said at the weekend: “The works councils know that I will fight for every job. We will not come with disproportionate numbers.” No locations would be preferred. “We will, of course, tie that to the workload plus the future pipeline of projects,” said Hoke. Securing locations also depends on specific projects: “In this respect, of course, you can help a lot if you don’t delay projects, but release them quickly.”
In the past five years, various programs have already been set up in the defense and space business to improve the cost situation. Plants were closed, smaller business areas sold, and staff cut.
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