Airbus have announced that they will slash their global workforce by 15,000 employees, with France being the most affected, involving 5,000 redundancies.
Following the French government’s announcement of loans for the battered airline sector, Airbus among other manufacturers have had to make dramatic job cuts following the disruption by the pandemic. The French government currently owns an 11% stake in the company.
The job cuts come after aircraft orders dropped 40% worldwide, and the reduction in the workforce could mean a large skills gap as 37% of staff are headed for retirement in the coming years.
Despite government intervention aimed at reducing the cuts as much as possible, the job losses have been predicted given the dire state of aviation and the near collapse of demand domestically and internationally following lockdowns around the world.
With the ongoing disruptions and economic damage from the pandemic, it may take several years for air traffic numbers to return to the previous peak at the end of 2019. This means that for aviation, cost cutting and shedding jobs is the only short-term solution without a pickup in demand – and with airlines reducing flight numbers, it will take some time for a rebound to be felt by the industry.
