Airbus is to cut 477 jobs in the UK as the aircraft manufacturer scales back its space operations and attempts to cut costs.
More than 2,000 jobs, or 5% of the workforce, will be lost globally by mid-2026.
No mandatory job cuts are planned, the firm said, adding that “almost all affected positions” are not linked to specific projects or programs.
The cuts come as the company's profits decline even as its sales rise, with the aircraft maker admitting in July that it was struggling with “bottlenecks” in its supply chain.
The company told the BBC at the time it had “more demand than capacity to supply” and admitted it was behind on orders.
The company said late Wednesday that it wanted to reduce its “fixed cost base” and would “work with its social partners to limit the impact using all available social measures.”
The space branch of its activity will be most affected by the cuts, with 1,128 jobs lost in this department.
An additional 618 jobs will be cut in its headquarters, 250 in its air power department and 47 in its connected intelligence department.
The job cuts will also be distributed geographically, with the majority occurring in Western Europe:
Germany – 689 France – 540 United Kingdom – 477 Spain – 303 Rest of the world – 34
The job cuts come as Airbus profits fell 22% to £1.8bn, even as sales rose 7% to £44.5bn in its latest results, which cover the nine months until October 30.
Its low profit margins mean that relatively small increases in costs can hurt profits.
This is not the first time in recent years that Airbus has had to reduce its workforce.
In 2020, it announced 15,000 job cuts globally and 1,700 in the UK, particularly as the pandemic grounded flights, hitting profits for plane makers and airlines.
The Unite union then criticized the decision, calling it “another act of industrial vandalism” against the British aerospace sector.
