Aviation supplier Diehl Aviation, a leading supplier of cabin interiors and aircraft systems as well as related services, has presented a concept for its future positioning. The concept will assist the company in securing its leading position in the aviation industry.
Diehl Aviation is commencing implementation of a future-oriented project with the objective of providing the division by the end of 2022 with an economically sustainable and future-oriented cost structure, through restructuring and an innovation campaign. Since the spring of 2020, the aviation industry has suffered a slump in demand by about half due to the fall-out from the coronavirus pandemic. Airlines and aircraft manufacturers assume that it will take years to get to back to pre-crisis levels.
In its concept for the future, the company plans to retain all of its sites in Germany and to employ around 4,000 people worldwide and 3,000 people in Germany. Following a peak in employment in 2019 with around 6,000 employees and steps taken to improve flexibility already implemented since then, this corresponds to a reduction of up to 1,400 jobs in Germany by 2022. Lay-offs due to restructuring will be avoided to the extent possible by taking socially acceptable steps, including partial retirement, a volunteer redundancy program, intra-group job portal, etc.
This will affect all divisions, sites and companies, albeit to varying degrees. These measures will enable Diehl Aviation to reverse the trend by 2022 and to return to profitability by 2023.
Moreover, Diehl Aviation will develop new products and get involved in new projects. Among other things, these will include product innovations for touchless cabin functions in commercial aircraft, entering the Urban Air Mobility (UAM) market segment, as well as taking part in the multi-national military Future Combat Air System (FCAS) project and also the development of sustainable lightweight materials as well as systems for flying with zero emissions.
