Airbus has decided to reduce its production rate by one third in order to be able to meet customer demand while adapting its capacities to the evolution of the world aeronautics market faced with the crisis linked to the coronavirus, a announced the group on Wednesday in a press release.
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Assembly lines at a standstill
"Our customers, the airlines, are heavily affected by the Covid-19. We adapt our production to their new situation and are working on operational and financial measures to face this reality", commented the boss of Airbus Guillaume Faury , cited in the press release.
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The European aircraft manufacturer, which had to suspend its assembly lines in Tianjin, China, and Toulouse due to the epidemic, and whose production sites in Bremen, Germany, and Mobile, in the United States, is "temporarily" suspended, said it reduced its monthly production to 40 of the 320 family, against 60 before the crisis. But also two for the A330 long-haul and six per month for the A350. In mid-February, Guillaume Faury had indicated that he expected 40 deliveries of A330s over the year and a monthly production of 9 to 10 A350s.
"The impact of this pandemic is unprecedented"
"This represents a reduction in average speeds of around a third," sums up Airbus, which ensures "to work in coordination with the social partners to define the most appropriate social measures in order to adapt to this new and evolving situation".
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"The impact of this pandemic is unprecedented," said Guillaume Faury. "Protecting our employees and supporting the fight against the virus are our top priorities at this time. We are in constant dialogue with our customers and our suppliers," he adds. Airbus also says it is working "on a short-term liquidity control plan as well as on its longer-term cost structure". The aircraft manufacturer announced on March 23 that it had obtained a new line of credit to bring its available cash to 30 billion euros against 20 previously. It then also canceled the payment of dividends to its shareholders for 2019 as well as its forecast results for 2020.