Airbus has started discussions with social partners from across its European sites during the European Works Council (SE-WC) meeting with regards to the A380 programme transition and the redeployment of employees. This follows the announcement made on 14th February to cease deliveries of the A380 in 2021 with 17 aircraft still to be delivered along with continued support to our A380 operators.

As previously mentioned, between 3,000 and 3,500 positions will be potentially impacted over the next three years, which is equivalent to less than 3% of our global workforce. These positions are split approximately between 1,300 blue collars and 2,100 white collars. Per country, this represents between 500 and 600 employees in the United Kingdom, 400 to 500 in Spain, 1,100 to 1,200 in Germany and 1,100 to 1,200 in France.

During the meeting Airbus also presented its roadmap for the A380 programme, which included the smooth transition of serial production, encompassing industrial and procurement adaptation but also in-service support for the years to come.

About 12,000 Airbus employees change job every year, and with the ongoing single-aisle ramp-up as well as a strong wide-body backlog, a significant number of internal mobility opportunities are available. In addition, Airbus will put in place dedicated services for competence reconversion to further support cross functional and cross programme redeployments.

Airbus is dedicated to managing industrial adaptations responsibly and successfully, as demonstrated in the past.

Contributed by Airbus