Portholes of the future presented by Airbus. Drawing. - Geeko

  • In a letter to employees, the boss of Airbus delivers a pessimistic vision of the impact of the coronavirus on the group.
  • Guillaume Faury implies that the rates of assembly lines will be further reduced.

"In just a few weeks, we have lost about a third of our business (...) And, frankly, we have to prepare for it to get worse." This is the bleak observation and the bleak prospects evoked by Guillaume Faury, the big boss of Airbus, in a letter sent Friday to the 135,000 employees of the group around the world.

The global aeronautical giant is finding it increasingly difficult to sell and deliver planes to airlines grounded by the coronavirus crisis. Its executive president is therefore preparing people for a further drop in production rates. They have already been reduced by a third in early April according to "a production schedule" which would remain valid for "two or three months", the time to finalize the assessment of the situation and "draw the consequences".

"Our cash flow is decreasing at an unprecedented speed," writes Guillaume Faury, "which can threaten the very existence of our business. That is why we acted quickly to obtain additional credit lines of up to 15 billion euros. "

Probably other "larger" measures

The boss of Airbus is not very optimistic either on the social level. "We may also have to plan for larger measures because of the scale of this crisis and its likely duration," he predicted, after recalling that Airbus already uses "all HR measures". and partial unemployment in several countries.

The aircraft manufacturer already decided at the start of the crisis not to pay the 2019 dividends to its shareholders. Wednesday morning, he must present his financial results for the first quarter. Inevitably in free fall.

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  • Coronavirus
  • Covid 19
  • Toulouse
  • Confinement
  • Economy
  • Nantes
  • Airbus