Airbus has announced it's cutting thousands of jobs worldwide, including hundreds in the UK, as part of a planned restructure.
The aerospace giant's defence and space division has entered a consultation process with the company’s European works council.
The company estimates there will be a reduction of 2,362 staff by the end of 2021, including 357 jobs in Britain.
There will also be job 829 job cuts in Germany, 630 in Spain, 404 in France and 142 in other countries.
In a statement Airbus said: "While the underlying business perspectives especially in the core business remain solid, these steps became necessary after the division achieved a book-to-bill ratio below 1 for the third year in a row, mainly caused by a flat space market and postponed contracts on the defence side."
The reduction in head count will be supported by a reinforced profitability programme and further measures to increase long-term competitiveness and safeguard the division’s future positioning, according to the company.
The need for restructuring was first announced in December 2019 and emphasized during the company’s annual press conference in Toulouse, France, on February 13.
Airbus Defence and Space says it will provide updates on its plans and is continuing a "constructive dialogue" with employee representatives.
Further financial implications are under assessment and will be communicated at a later stage, the business has said.
Workers union Unite says it will "work tirelessly" to mitigate the impact of any UK job lossses.
Assistant general secretary for manufacturing Steve Turner said: “Unite will be reassuring our members and their families today (Thursday 20 February), who are rightly concerned over their future.
“This a world-class workforce producing world beating equipment and technologies and Unite is already in discussion at both a UK and European level with the business, and will carefully scrutinise both the number and impact of any job losses during detailed negotiations commencing next week.
“We will work tirelessly to mitigate the impact of any UK job losses as well as current short-term challenges facing the cyber intelligence and security and space business arms of Airbus.
“Unite will leave no stone unturned in securing on-going commitments to employees alongside investment plans and future workload to support all UK operations and will work with both the business and government to ensure UK national security and wider defence interests are not undermined by short-term reactions to short-term market difficulties.”
