Airbus has managed to weather a succession of crises in the industry through being adaptable and flexible. But another major drop in the order book could lead to redundancies, said chief financial officer Gustav Humbert.
The crises - from 11 September to the Iraq war and SARS - are the background against which Airbus is shepherding the A318 into service, building the A380 and launching the A400M military transport. "We believe we have to adapt rapidly to the difficult times ahead," said Humbert.
"After these events the crisis is really complete so we have to adapt. We have to focus on cash, we have to safeguard customer financing and we have to get our cash savings in place."
The European manufacturer is carrying out a €1.5 billion ($1.6bn) cost-saving program-me to ensure it meets its 2006 financial targets. Competitor Boeing has sacked 30,000 staff as a reaction to the downturn in the industry, but Humbert said Airbus had sought to avoid similar actions through a raft of alternative measures.
These included early retirement, an end to overtime and short-time working.
Safeguards"As well as safeguarding the financial situation, we believe it is also very important to safeguard skills, and so far we have not had to act like Boeing did," he said.
However, he warned if aircraft deliveries fell from the current 300 to 200-250 next year, redundancies might be unavoidable.
"With the 300 production level we have today we are not in the danger zone," he said. "If we get to a situation of between 200 and 250, we have some simulations where we know quite well what to do in each case."
Source: Flight Daily News
