Talking on French radio station RTL, Guillaume Faury, CEO of Europe’s Airbus, the world’s largest commercial plane manufacturer, confirmed that the company cannot guarantee there will be no compulsory redundancies as it struggles to deal with the fallout from a continuation of the global pandemic.
As many airlines are only operating at a fraction of normal capacity, Airbus has been hard hit by the number of deliveries that have been delayed at the request of numerous carriers. Currently, Airbus is looking at trimming its global workforce by 15,000 members of staff. “The crisis is existential. Our life as a business is potentially at risk if we don’t take the right measures. We are taking them,” Faury said. “The situation is so serious, and we are faced with so much uncertainty, that I think no one can guarantee there won’t be compulsory redundancies if we’re to adapt to the situation, especially if it evolves further,” he confirmed, adding: “On the other hand, what I say clearly is that we have a lot of work to do, we will do everything we can to avoid arriving at that point.”
In a letter already circulated to staff, Faury has warned them that there may have to be compulsory redundancies as there is no immediate sign of a recovery in the market for air travel.
