- Due to coronavirus, Airbus announces a net loss of 481 million euros in the first quarter.
- The manufacturer who has already reduced its rates now wants to adapt its planes to allow cohabitation with the virus.
- In Toulouse, the concern is great.
Unsurprisingly, it's a big air hole. Airbus announced this Wednesday morning a net loss of 481 million euros for the first quarter against the background of the coronavirus crisis and air traffic reduced to almost nothing. Over the same period in 2019, Airbus had made 40 million euros in profits.
With the impact of the pandemic, the European manufacturer has delivered only 40 aircraft since the start of the year to airlines, most of which no longer fly. Sales totaled 290 devices, 58 less than in the first quarter of 2019.
Regain passenger confidence
The coronavirus pushed Airbus to reduce its production rates by a third in early April and in a letter written last week to 135,000 employees, Guillaume Faury, the owner of the aircraft manufacturer, is preparing people for a further drop in production rates, more in line with the demands of its customers. He is now talking about "the most serious crisis the aviation industry has ever known".
The manager says that Airbus' priority is the health of its employees. But also in the longer term to work “to restore the confidence of passengers in air transport” and to make the modifications on planes that will allow them to coexist with the virus.
Concerns in Toulouse
In Toulouse, the manufacturer's cradle, subcontractors and elected officials are increasingly worried. Jean-Luc Moudenc (LR), the mayor of the Pink City, wrote to Bruno Le Maire, the Minister of the Economy, calling on him "within the framework of the economic recovery plan currently in preparation", to "strengthen the industrial and technological sovereignty of the aeronautics and space sector, emblematic of the Toulouse economy ”. "In particular, the necessary investments must be made for a new major aeronautical program," he adds.
Our file on the coronavirus
Airbus already decided at the very beginning of the crisis not to pay 2019 dividends to its shareholders. The group uses partial unemployment in all countries where this is possible.
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- Airbus
- Coronavirus
- Covid 19
- Economy
- Toulouse
- Aeronautics