No more job cuts at Airbus despite €2.7bn loss

Airbus is not planning further redundancies and has managed to stem its cash outflows as the plane manufacturer reported better than expected results.

However, as chief executive Guillaume Faury posted third-quarter numbers he warned the global air travel recovery had been slower than anticipated, with no return to 2019 levels for at least three years. "Airlines are realising demand is lower for longer… this crisis is far from over.”

Mr Faury said radical cost-cutting actions announced earlier this year, such as shedding about 15,000 jobs or 15pc of the workforce and reducing production by a third, was helping Airbus weather the storm.

About 1,700 redundancies are expected at its plants at Broughton, north Wales and Filton near Bristol.

During the three months, Airbus took €2bn of charges while revenues sank more than a quarter to €11.2bn, resulting in a €767m loss.

For the nine months, revenues fell 35pc to €30.1bn, generating a €2.7bn loss.

Airbus delivered 145 new planes in the quarter, taking the total for the year to 341, down from 571 last year.

Although Mr Faury said Airbus was still adapting to the “new Covid-19 market environment”, he did have the confidence to give the first guidance since the pandemic hit.

Assuming no further disruptions to the world economy and air traffic, Airbus would break even at the free cash flow level in the final three months of the year.

Airbus’s position is relatively upbeat in comparison with US rival Boeing. At its quarterly results this week the US aerospace giant announced a further 7,000 job cuts,  taking the total the 30,000, meaning it is cutting a fifth of its workforce.

Boeing delivered just 28 planes in the quarter, taking its total for the year to date to 98, compared with 301 in the first nine months of last year.

Airbus shares dipped 3pc to €59.88 - less than half the level they were trading at before Covid-19 hit.