Airbus to axe nearly 500 UK jobs to cut costs

Airbus will axe 477 jobs in the UK as the plane maker scales back its space business and tries to trim costs.

More than 2,000 jobs – 5% of its workforce – will be lost globally by mid 2026.

Compulsory job cuts are not planned, the firm said, adding “almost all of the positions affected” do not relate to specific projects or programmes.

The cuts come as the firm’s profits fall even as its sales rise, with the plane maker admitting in July it was struggling with “bottlenecks” in its supply chain.

It told the BBC at the time it has “more demand than the ability to supply” and admitted it was falling behind on orders.

The company said on Wednesday evening it wanted to reduce its “fixed cost base” and that it will “will work with its social partners to limit the impact by utilising all available social measures”.

The space arm of its business will take the brunt of cuts, with 1,128 jobs to go from that department.

A further 618 jobs will be cut from its headquarters, 250 from its air power department, and 47 from its connected intelligence department.

The job cuts will also be spread out geographically, with the bulk occurring in Western Europe:

• Germany – 689
• France – 540
• United Kingdom – 477
• Spain – 303
• Rest of world – 34

The job cuts come as Airbus’ profit fell 22% to £1.8bn even as sales rose 7% to £44.5bn in its most recent results, which cover the nine months to 30th October.

Its thin profit margins mean relatively small rises in costs can hurt profits.

This is not the first time in the last few years Airbus has had to cut back on staff.

In 2020, it announced 15,000 job cuts globally and 1,700 in the UK specifically as the pandemic grounded flights, hitting plane makers’ and airlines’ profits.

The Unite union criticised the decision at the time as “another act of industrial vandalism” against the UK aerospace sector.