European aircraft manufacturer Airbus is planning to lay off around 15000 of its employees worldwide as it struggles to sustain itself amid the coronavirus pandemic, the media reported.
Most of the layoffs are expected to be in Europe.
Additionally, the company has already agreed to cut 900 jobs at its Premium AEROTEC unit in Germany.
With regard to the job cuts, Airbus said in a statement, “With air traffic not expected to recover to pre-COVID levels before 2023 and potentially as late as 2025, Airbus now needs to take additional measures.”
Reportedly, it is planning to let go of around 5,000 of its employees in France, 5,100 in Germany, 1,700 in Britain, 900 in Spain and 1,300 others at Airbus facilities elsewhere.
Recently, Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury said in a statement, “Airbus is facing the gravest crisis this industry has ever experienced. We must ensure that we can sustain our enterprise and emerge from the crisis as a healthy, global aerospace leader, adjusting to the overwhelming challenges of our customers.”
Last month, arch-rival Boeing announced that it will lay off around 12000 employees in the US, including 6770 voluntary layoffs.
In the month of April, Boeing said it would cut 10 percent of its worldwide workforce of 160,000 by the end of 2020. Boeing said 5,520 US employees will take voluntary layoffs, and also disclosed it was notifying 6,770 workers of involuntary layoffs.
Recently, Boeing began the flight safety test for its 737 MAX aircraft where were grounded last year after two deadly crashes that killed mora than 300 people.