Airbus furloughs 3,200 staff in Broughton

28th Apr 2020, 12:18 • In News

Virgin Atlantic's first A350 in production at Airbus's Broughton wing facility. Image: Dave Gunner/Virgin Atlantic

Airbus has said it will furlough 3,200 workers at its Broughton wing assembly site in north Wales as the company cuts production rates.

The plane maker's CEO, Guillaume Faury said the company is "bleeding cash at an unprecedented speed."

The staff will be placed on the UK government's job retention scheme, which pays 80% of the employee's wages up to £2,500 a month. It has been reported Airbus will top up the furloughed staff's salaries a further 5-10%.

The airline industry has been grounded to a halt amid the coronavirus pandemic, and meanwhile Airbus has cut its aircraft production rates by roughly a third.

New average production rates going forward include: 40 A320s per month; 2 A330s per month; 6 A350s per month.

Related: Airbus uses 3D printing to make PPE equipment

Mr Faury has told staff in a letter that the company was “bleeding cash at an unprecedented speed”, and had lost about a third of its business after scaling back production in response to the pandemic.

He added: “Yes, one third. And, frankly, that’s not even the worst-case scenario we could face. That may sound tough, but I want to be honest with you: there are still many unknowns.”

The company employs 13,500 staff in the UK at Broughton and Filton.

Airbus www.airbus.com

Author

Michael Tyrrell

Company

Airbus