Why Airbus resorts (again) to layoffs
The cuts will affect around 2% of the total 34,330 positions at the Airbus Defense and Space division, which operates mainly in Germany, France and Spain. All the details
Layoffs will soon take off at Airbus.
The European aerospace giant said it plans to eliminate 750 jobs in its Airbus Defense and Space division at the center of the next review, but plans to reassign workers rather than resort to compulsory layoffs as the company grows, Reuters reports.
A reorganization has been in the works for much of this year, the news agency recalls, adding that “the division faces cuts in French and Spanish orders of the A400M transporter, ambitious new developments such as the Eurodrone and delays and cost overruns on the Ariane 6 space launcher, for which the industry received a promise of future operational support” at the ESA Space Summit held in Seville last week.
Already in 2020 the European aircraft manufacturer had resorted to layoffs (cut 15,000 positions from its workforce of 135,000 employees) due to the Covid crisis that has paralyzed civil aviation. Specifically, more than 2,300 jobs from that round of layoffs were for Airbus Defense and Space as of late 2021.
All the details.
THE DISMISSALS CONCERNS AIRBUS DEFENSE AND SPACE
Airbus has decided to lighten and simplify its space and defense division.
The cuts will affect around 2% of the total 34,330 positions at Airbus Defense and Space, which operates mainly in Germany, France and Spain. Consultations with social partners are ongoing, Airbus said, regarding job reallocations.
Airbus announced the reorganization on Wednesday, at its third-quarter 2023 results, after the division reported a loss following a quarterly charge of 300 million euros for delays and estimated cost overruns on satellite programs that it did not specify, which according to industry sources included the reprogrammable OneSat family.
THE NUMBERS OF THE THIRD QUARTER
In the third quarter, sales increased by 12% as of September 30, reaching 14.9 billion euros. Net profit rose 21% in the third quarter of 2023 to €806 million, thanks to “higher commercial aircraft deliveries.”
The group delivered 172 aircraft between July and September, 22% more than in the same period last year, and maintains its target of delivering 720 aircraft to customers for the full year, as per financial forecasts. “Our profit for the first nine months reflects the increase in deliveries of commercial aircraft, the good performance of the helicopter sector and the costs linked to the revaluation of some satellite development programs” explained Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury, Radiocor reports .
Airbus plans to increase A320 production from 40 aircraft per month during the pandemic to 75 per month by 2026. As demand for long-haul aircraft returns, the company “has decided to increase the pace of production of the A350 ” and plans to produce 10 of these wide-body aircraft per month by 2026, up from the previous forecast of 9; currently produces 6 per month.
ANALYSTS COMMENT
At the same time, CEO Faury said that the simplified structure in the defense and space sector will be operational early next year.
“The challenge that Airbus and Guillaume Faury face is restructuring and cost reduction when it comes to managing a multiplicity of activities related to national sovereignty,” commented Agency Partners analyst Sash Tusa, quoted by Reuters .
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/perche-airbus-ricorre-di-nuovo-ai-licenziamenti/ on Mon, 13 Nov 2023 15:07:12 +0000.