Airbus faces the coronavirus pandemic

On June 30, Airbus announced a massive 15,000 job cut and a sharp 40% reduction in production in response to the coronavirus crisis. 

An Airbus A320neo during landing.  

An unprecedented job cut plan

The European aircraft manufacturer is facing the current crisis in air transport. After production was halted and production lines slowed down, Airbus announced that it was cutting jobs. The return of air traffic in 2019 is not expected to take place in 2023 or even 2025 according to Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury.

Airbus' production rates should have been completely different, however. At Mi-2021, the A320 Family was expected to reach 63 units per month, and even 65 by 2022-2023. By 2019, the Hamburg site had recruited 1,000 people, and in January 2020, rumor had it that 1,500 to 2,000 people would be hired in Toulouse.

An A320 production line (credits: Airbus)

New production 

With the coronavirus pandemic, the old 2019 rates could be restored by 2025. For the A320 family, however, recovery could occur in 2022 or 2023. For wide-bodied aircraft, such as the 777 and A330, a replacement wave should take place in the next few years.

The A321XLR, the new single-aisle long-haul aircraft with a longer range, could be the model most favored by airlines. In the search for smaller, higher-performance aircraft to meet lower demand, the A321neo could become more important in the future. The aircraft has already logged nearly 300 orders since its launch in 2019, including 50 for American Airlines and 36 for Qantas.

The Airbus CEO told the German newspaper Die Welt that "no final assembly line will be closed [...]. Production of all models will continue, but at a slower pace. "36 A319/A320/A321s are expected to leave the plants. 

An extraordinary European committee between Airbus management and European unions has been scheduled for Wednesday, July 1, 2020. Airbus also indicated that it has pushed back its target of 10 billion dollars of turnover in the service sector in 2030.