Airbus: “Unlikely that voluntary departures will be enough” says Chief Executive Guillaume Faury

Airbus has ‘stepped up warnings’ of compulsory layoffs as air travel fails to recover as quickly as expected from the coronavirus crisis, according to a report from Reuters.

The aerospace giant shedding 15,000 jobs globally as it deals with the fallout from the pandemic.

Airbus is in talks with unions on reducing its Broughton workforce by 1,435 positions, a further 235 jobs at Filton Bristol will go.

A business update to 130,000 staff, Chief Executive Guillaume Faury reportedly said: “I owe it to you to be transparent: it’s unlikely that voluntary departures will be enough.”

“Unfortunately, the recovery in airline traffic over the summer period has not been at the level the industry was counting on.”

“We must now prepare for a crisis that will probably be even deeper and longer than the previous scenarios suggested.”

Airbus has confirmed Mr Faury issued a letter providing “a general business update.”

“This is part of the constant dialogue between Airbus’ top management and employees, which is crucial in these challenging times in order to ensure transparency and share information with our global workforce. It isn’t the first and it won’t be the last.”

“We do not comment on our internal communications.” An Airbus spokesman said.

Employees at Broughton who have applied to leave the company voluntarily are set to leave “soon.”

A spokesperson for Airbus Broughton said: “We can confirm some Broughton employees who applied to leave the company voluntarily will start to depart the company soon; however, voluntary release is only one part of our overall Adaptation Plan activity.”

“It would be premature to speculate on what the other elements of our plan may deliver over the coming months.

In addition, we cannot forget the consultation process is ongoing.”

“We remain in constant dialogue with our social partners as we work to implement our full COVID-19 adaptation plan.”

Nearly 500 production and production-support workers contracted to Airbus in Broughton were made redundant last month.

The skilled workers, many of whom had been at the wing making plant for years, were employed by specialist services provider Guidant Global.