Unite Wales welcomed an announcement by Airbus that there will be no compulsory redundancies across their UK operations, including at Broughton in North Wales and Filton near Bristol.
The news will come as a relief to the thousands of Unite members at Broughton, who recently overwhelmingly agreed to an innovative shorter working week in order to save jobs.
Airbus announced more than 1,700 jobs were at risk in the UK last June - with around 1,400 at the North Wales wing plant, in addition to 400 agency workers who were made redundant.
It followed a slump in production due to the crisis in the aviation sector because of the Covid pandemic.
Close to 1,000 Airbus staff have left through voluntary redundancies but Unite the union has helped save around 360 staff through the shorter working agreement.
Peter Hughes, Unite Wales Regional Secretary said: "For our members at Airbus Broughton this is great news following a turbulent year that has seen the plant rocked by the effects of COVID-19.
"The Welsh aerospace sector has been under immense pressure due to the decline in aircraft orders resulting from the pandemic. The workforce has remained strong and united and today’s news is hopefully the first sign that the plant is on the road to recovery."
Daz Reyonlds, Unite Convenor for Airbus Broughton, added: "This news is an enormous relief to our members who have faced a year of continued uncertainty.
"Our recent agreement on a shorter working week at the plant has clearly paved the way for this announcement. Unite will continue to work constructively with the company to navigate a way out of this crisis.
"We are not out of the woods yet but to take the threat of compulsory job losses away is a significant step forward and great news for us all at Broughton.”
Airbus said: ""Airbus has held a European Works Council (SE-WC) meeting on 3 March during which it confirmed to social partners that its COVID-19 adaptation plan would come to a formal conclusion no later than summer 2021.
"At this moment, and thanks to the effectiveness of all social measures deployed so far, Airbus does not see the need to implement forced redundancies in France, Germany and the UK - pending the successful deployment of ongoing internal mobility measures. Because the social process has started later in Spain, efforts are still ongoing to meet the objectives of the adaptation plan there."
