Aerospace giant EADS plans to cut 5,800 jobs from its future Airbus Defence and Space division as well as its corporate team as it seeks to consolidate its business in the wake of shrinking government budgets.
The headcount reduction at Airbus DS,…
Aerospace giant EADS plans to cut 5,800 jobs from its future Airbus Defence and Space division as well as its corporate team as it seeks to consolidate its business in the wake of shrinking government budgets.
The headcount reduction at Airbus DS, which will combine satellite maker Astrium with transport aircraft specialist Airbus Military and defence firm Cassidian, will take place over the next three years.
After offering jobs in other areas of the business to up to 1,500 employees, choosing not to renew around 1,300 in temporary contracts, and the application of other voluntary measures, the group expects final redundancies to be in the 1,000-1,450 range.
As part of these plans, around 500 positions will be lost as the group divests its corporate office in Paris.
“We need to improve our competitiveness in defence and space – and we need to do it now,” said Tom Enders, CEO of EADS, which will be renamed after its commercial plane-making subsidiary Airbus next year.
“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. That’s what the restructuring and integration plan for our defence and space business is all about.”
The group is also in talks with works councils to reduce labour costs as it expects the Germany-headquartered Airbus DS division to be fully integrated and operational by mid-2014.
The move comes after politicians last year scotched a proposed US$45bn merger with UK defence group BAE Systems, which would have given it parity between civil and government operations.
US aerospace and defence giant Lockheed Martin, also under pressure from reduced government spending, last month unveiled plans to axe 4,000 positions and shut down its satellite making plant in Pennsylvania, US.
