Airbus could cut 10,000 jobs amid coronavirus travel slump

European aerospace titan Airbus could cut up to 10,000 jobs in the coming days as it struggles with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

The Telegraph reported that executives are set to finalise plans for cuts to the company’s 134,000 staff next week.

One source quoted in the report said cuts will be “imminent and savage”, adding: “Boeing cut 10 per cent of its workforce and something along the same lines is expected”.

The report said Airbus management held talks with employee representatives in Europe last week in which they set out the bleak imminent future for the company.

A spokesperson for Airbus said: “Over the last few weeks, Airbus has implemented a number of financial, operational and social measures in order to adapt to the severe health and economic impacts of the covid-19 crisis.

“The company will continue to take all necessary measures to ensure the future of Airbus in cooperation with its social partners.

“Airbus doesn’t comment on speculation relating to internal meetings.”

Last month Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury wrote to all of the planemaker’s employees to warn of pain to come.

Faury, who warned that the company’s survival was at stake, said Airbus was “bleeding cash at an unprecedented speed”.

Faury said the recent drop in production of a third was not the worst case scenario.

Faury added that although the company had begun to put around 3,000 staff on to French government furlough schemes, “we may now need to plan for more far-reaching measures”.

“The survival of Airbus is in question if we don’t act now,” he added.

Last month Boeing boss Dave Calhoun told employees it is reducing the size of its workforce by about 10 per cent.

“We have begun taking action to lower our number of employees by roughly 10 per cent through a combination of voluntary layoffs, natural turnover and involuntary layoffs as necessary,” Calhoun said in an email seen by Reuters.

Boeing will need to make “even deeper reductions in areas that are most exposed to the condition of our commercial customers — more than 15 per cent across our commercial airplanes and services businesses, as well as our corporate functions,” he said