Airbus Group management confirmed radical streamlining measures at a Central Works Council meeting on 29th November in Toulouse. These include the closure of its Suresnes site near Paris and slashing up to 1,164 jobs. Some 640 jobcuts are in France, mostly in Suresnes and Toulouse, and 429 in Germany mainly in Ottobrunn near Munich, the rest in Spain and the UK.
It is the support and administrative functions (communication, HR, R&D, Finance, Strategy, Legal, etc.) that are targeted by this plan. For the time being, there is no question of redundancies, but of voluntary departure’s and early retirements, insists Airbus management. It intends to reach an agreement on redundancy measures with unions by next summer.
This plan is part of the wider merger of Airbus Group with its commercial aviation branch which is due to come into effect on 1st January. According to Tom Enders, the Group's CEO, this reorganisation will eliminate duplication, ensure the group’s competitiveness in future and maintain its position as a world market leader. Looking beyond the job cuts, 230 new posts will be created in Toulouse and Ottobrunn in the R&D sector, related to new technologies.
