Airbus‘ 40 per cent cut on production and deliveries will last for two years, Chief Executive Officer, Guillaume Faury has said, as the company prepares to make a major restructure which will include thousands of job losses.

Europe’s plane maker is due to lay out its reorganisation plan by Wednedsay as part of its efforts to reduce costs and conserve cash following a €481 million ($522 million) loss in the first quarter of this year.

“It’s a brutal fact, but we must do it. It is about the necessary adjustment to the massive drop in production. It’s about securing our future,” Faury told German newspaper Die Welt.

“For the next two years – 2020/21 – we assume that production and deliveries will be 40% lower than originally planned.“

Faury expects Airbus‘output to return to normal levels by 2025 and deliveries will catch up with production by the end of next year.

In April, when the Covid-19 pandemic was peaking, Airbus announced it was slashing production by around a third as demand for new aircraft fell sharply.

Output of its best-selling A320 has been reduced to 40 aircraft a month while the planemaker now produces six A350 wide-bodies a month and two A330 wide-bodies.

Airbus has said it will announce job cuts by the end of July but sources have predicted that between 14,000 and 20,000 employees will be laid off in a phases.

Earlier this year, Faury warned his 135,000 employees to brace for deep job cuts

Wole Shadare