BERLIN: European aerospace giant EADS, the maker of Airbus aircraft, announced plans yesterday to cut 5,800 jobs in its defence and space division over three years.
The layoffs, part of a major restructuring in the face of falling orders, will affect the group’s workforce in Germany, France, Spain and Britain, the company said in a statement.
The news came after a meeting of its European works council with chief executive Tom Enders, whose bold plan to merge the conglomerate with Britain’s defence group BAE Systems was torpedoed last year with a surprise veto by Germany.
“We need to improve our competitiveness in defence and space—and we need to do it now,” Enders said, according to the statement.
“With our traditional markets down, we urgently need to improve access to international customers, to growth markets. For that to work, we need to cut costs, eliminate product and resource overlaps, create synergies in our operations and product portfolio and better focus our Research and Development efforts.”
He added: “That’s what the restructuring and integration plan for our defence and space business is all about.”
An industry source said about 2,600 of the jobs cuts would hit Germany, around 1,700 come in France, with some 700 in Britain and another 600 in Spain.
Furloughed employees will be offered redeployment in 1,500 jobs at the company’s Airbus and Eurocopter divisions.
