Airbus Announce Staff Cuts

The latest news in the on going Airbus A380 saga is the announcement of 10,000 job cuts across Europe, 1,600 of which will be from the firms UK plants in Filton and Broughton.

Delays to the troubled planemaker's flagship A380 have put the project 2 years behind schedule. The delays, coupled with a decline in value of the US dollar have lead to the lay offs as Airbus struggles to revamp its business. A large part of the job cuts are expected to come from cutting temporary employees on short-term contracts.

The A380's maiden flight

The world's largest passenger plane, the Airbus A380 took it's maiden flight in April 2005. In a test that lasted just under 4 hours the A380 took off from the production site in Toulouse and circled the Bay of Biscay carrying a crew of 6 and some 20 tonnes of test equipment.

Tests were carried out at 10,000 feet with the data being fed to a team of experts on the ground via a live satellite feed.

The Airbus 380 will seat 555 passengers, with an 840 maximum, in 3 different classes. It's wings, built in the UK plant at Broughton, span 79 metres and it stands at 24.1 metres tall. With a fuel tank that holds 310,000 litres, the A380 has a range of 15,000km which means non-stop flights between Europe and Asia. It's a third larger than the current jumbo, Boeing's 747.

Airbus problems

Billed as a 'superjumbo' the A380 is now 2 years behind schedule after electrical wiring problems came to light in 2005 - electricians were having difficulty with the 300 miles of wiring in each A380. In light of the announced delays many companies and leading airlines have begun reviewing their options and contemplating cancelling their orders.

The problems surrounding the A380 have hit Airbus hard. In 2006 they secured less orders for new plans than their rival Boeing for the first time since 2000. The delays are also set to push Airbus to an annual loss for 2006, having already cost the firm more than £3 billion with additional costs expected. Airbus Chief Executive Louis Gallois referred to the delays as a "major shock and disappointment."

The future for Airbus

In spite of the problems surrounding the A380, Airbus still delivered more planes last year than Boeing, delivering 434 planes. The company is now embarking on a large scale efficiency drive to become what Mr Gallois considers "leaner and productive." As a result Airbus have announced that it wants to cut 10,000 of it's 57,000 jobs over the next 4 years, with 1,600 from the UK.

In the UK Airbus employs over 11,000 staff across its 2 sites in Filton, Bristol and Broughton, North Wales which specialise in producing wings. The company are hoping to secure a partner to share costs at Filton to enable development in composite design and technology. The company-wide cutbacks and restructure means that Airbus will be using it's Broughton site as it's European base for wing operations. The financing and development of the new A350 plane is key in the company's future plans.

With wiring problems resolved the first commercial A380 will be delivered to Singapore Airlines in October 2007. For further updates and the latest travel news, remember to check back with Holiday Extras.