London (AFP)

British aircraft engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce will cut at least 9,000 jobs to deal with an "unprecedented" crisis due to the collapse of air traffic caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The planned cuts represent 17% of a total workforce of 52,000 people. They will mainly affect civil aviation activities, a little administrative functions, but not the defense branch.

"It will take several years for the commercial aeronautics market to return to its levels of a few months ago," explains the group.

"Our customers in aviation and aeronautics have to adapt and so do we," said Warren East, the chief executive, quoted in the release.

According to him, "governments are doing what they can to support businesses in the short term but (...) they cannot sustainably replace the demand for customers that no longer exists".

Rolls-Royce says that its "major" restructuring accompanied by cost reductions "in factories and assets, capital and indirect (costs)" should in total save 1.3 billion pounds (1.45 billion euros), of which 700 million will come from layoffs. In particular, the group had already canceled the payment of a dividend.

Since 2018, the engine manufacturer had already reduced its workforce by 4,600 people, mainly in the administrative.

Rolls-Royce had reduced its net loss in 2019 thanks to better commercial performance, despite the costly problems with its Trent 1000 aircraft engines which had sealed its accounts for several years, but the health crisis dealt it a new frontal blow.

The airline industry is one of the most affected by the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic and the containment and movement restrictions measures implemented to curb its spread.

In the UK and Ireland, airlines British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Ryanair among others have already announced thousands of job cuts.

Meanwhile, UK Transport Minister Grant Shapps told parliament Monday that 43,500 people had been laid off in aviation in the UK due to the coronavirus crisis, and 2,600 at airports.

- "Shameful Opportunism" -

"Cutting so many jobs will in itself be a big effort, cost hundreds of millions of pounds and could be accompanied by political disruption since aerospace activities are mainly based in the UK," says Russ Mold, chief investment officer at AJ Bell.

In addition, if the aviation sector recovers, having to recruit and train a lot of people at once could slow the group down, he adds.

But "for the moment Rolls-Royce does not have the luxury of being able to look far, it must remain in flight in the middle of a storm", concludes Mr. Mold.

Unions reacted strongly to the announcement of the upcoming social plan: Unite castigated "shameful opportunism".

"We will meet with management in the coming days to convince them to adopt a different approach and will pressure the government to intervene and protect the industrial base" of the country, added the union in a press release.

"We must send a clear signal that it is possible to reposition the United Kingdom" on the world industrial market.

"Without such a plan many companies will kick many more people out and mass unemployment, broken families and devastated communities will become the grim reality," warns Unite.

The sectoral association ADS for its part called on the government to "be at the forefront of the international reopening of aviation, set up additional public aid for the development of new low-carbon technologies, launch major programs defense and aerospace ", among others.

In early March, the American engine manufacturer General Electric had already announced that it would cut 10,000 jobs in its aviation division because of the ravages caused by the coronavirus on air traffic.

© 2020 AFP