Newsstand - Jobs At Risk As Airbus Set To Detail Shake-Up

February 18, 2007

Job cuts and possible plant sales loom at plane maker Airbus next week as it unveils long-awaited details of its Power8 restructuring plan.

Trouble in wiring its A380 super jumbo has delayed the plane's debut and stripped almost EUR5 billion euros (USD$6.58 billion) from Airbus's expected earnings in coming years, forcing the company to restructure.

Selling plants would reduce costs and is a step rival Boeing has already taken, but politics will make next week's announcement a tricky one for Airbus and parent EADS.

Governments in France, Germany, Spain and Britain -- where Airbus has its main plants -- have made it plain they want any job cuts spread evenly.

In Germany, the debate has gone a step further, with the premiers of regional states arguing on behalf of preserving jobs at their local plants.

Unions are also defending their turf and are set to meet Louis Gallois, EADS co-chief executive and CEO of Airbus, next Tuesday ahead of the restructuring announcement later that day.

Source: http://news.airwise.com/story/view/1171837812.html

February 20, 2007

Airbus faced growing paralysis on Tuesday over plans to cut thousands of jobs as French and German politicians quarrelled over the cuts and Berlin dampened hopes of a quick solution at a bilateral summit this week.

French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said he had talked with Chancellor Angela Merkel about the problems at Airbus and endorsed press reports it wants to cut 10,000 jobs.

He also confirmed on RTL radio that Merkel and French President Jacques Chirac would discuss the problems at a summit meeting on Friday.

But Germany said the two leaders would not take any concrete decisions that were best left to Airbus management.

Friday's meeting in Berlin is a Franco-German summit, "not an Airbus summit," government spokesman Thomas Steg said at a regular government news conference in Berlin.

He also dismissed the widespread media tally of 10,000 job cuts, apparently confirmed by Villepin, as speculation.

Airbus on Monday postponed its announcement on job cuts planned for Tuesday, saying European nations could not agree how to share the work on its next aircraft, the wide-body A350.

Source: http://news.airwise.com/story/view/1172008759.html