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The crisis in the aerospace sector resulting from the coronavirus has led Rolls-Royce to announce the dismissal of 9,000 workers , approximately 17% of its workforce worldwide, as part of a plan to cut 1,460 million euros. The company, which is one of the world leaders in the manufacture of engines for commercial aircraft , assures that its intention is to adapt to a pandemic that has left practically all these devices on the ground.

"This is not a crisis that was our fault, it is a crisis that we must face and deal with. Our airline and partner customers are having to adapt and so are we," said Warren East , CEO. Rolls-Royce, in an interview for the BBC. "Being told that there is no longer a job for you is very hard, especially when we all take so much pride in working for this company, but we have to make tough decisions if we want to get through all of this."

The British manufacturer, which has "more than two thirds of its workforce working in the United Kingdom", is nourished with around 17,000 million euros a year that come from the after-sales services associated with flight hours. This, with 90% of commercial flights worldwide suspended in the last two months, has practically sunk that source of income, which is why Rolls-Royce, which decades ago separated from its automotive division, has been especially affected .

Within this plan to overcome the crisis caused by the pandemic, the company expects to cut around 1,460 million euros in expenses , 785 million coming from the reduction in staff. In fact, and in perspectives that are expandable to the rest of the sector, East himself has recognized that it will be many years before the aerospace world recovers the muscle it was exhibiting before the coronavirus, so it is not expected that they will be measures aimed at temporality.

Specifically, the International Air Transport Association has ensured that this recovery will not come, at least, until 2023, so a significant drop in the number of flights is expected, and therefore also in the manufacture of aircraft. In this regard, the executive director specified that they expected that their production of aircraft engines would be a third less than last year, in addition to confirming that "more than half" of the layoffs will occur before the end of 2020: "We have to get on with it because we know that a very hard reality awaits us. "

This new scenario has already led Rolls-Royce to dismiss its dividends last month , something that has not happened since Margaret Thatcher privatized the company in 1987, but it has also had its consequences on the stock market, where its shares have fallen 3% this Wednesday in a fall accumulated during the last three months that already reaches 60%.

For the moment, the company, which has a presence in 50 countries although half of its workforce is in the United Kingdom, has already taken advantage of the temporary dismissal plan offered by the British Government to cut 4,000 workers, a lifeguard that will only be valid until next September. Even so, Rolls-Royce has assured that this crisis only affects the area of ​​manufacturing of engines for commercial aircraft, since the rest of its divisions, oriented to defense projects such as submarines or combat aircraft, will not undergo changes.

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