Thousands of workers have been furloughed by Airbus at Broughton as production has been cut.
A total of 3,200 people working for the plane makers are being put on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme - which sees the UK Government pay 80% of the wages of furloughed staff.
The number comes in addition to the 500 workers who were furloughed by contractor Guidant earlier this month.
An Airbus spokesman said: “Airbus confirms it has agreed with its social partners to apply the Government’s job retention scheme for approximately 3,200 production and production-support employees at its commercial aircraft site in Broughton.”
Airbus is headquartered in Toulouse, but with a manufacturing plant in Filton near Bristol, another in Hamburg, and others in the US, Canada, Spain, and China employing some 135,000 worldwide, with more than 6,000 in Broughton.
The company's chief executive Guillaume Faury had warned the company is "bleeding cash" earlier this month in a letter to workers.
“We’re bleeding cash at an unprecedented speed, which may threaten the very existence of our company,” he wrote.
“We must now act urgently to reduce our cash-out, restore our financial balance and, ultimately, to regain control of our destiny."
Shadow economy and business minister Russell George AM has expressed his concern over the move.
He said: “The Covid-19 crisis has seen a massive reduction in the number of aircraft in operation over recent weeks and, we might expect, for the foreseeable future.
“This has had an impact on new orders for aircraft, not just for Airbus, but its main competitor, Boeing.
“However, today my thoughts – and those of my Welsh Conservative colleagues – are with the thousands of affected Airbus employees here in Wales, and the thousands more in the supply chain.
“We look forward to the time when this fantastic company gets back up to full production, and continues to be a major contributor to wealth in and the economy of Wales.”
A UK Government spokesman said: “We’ve taken unprecedented measures to get through this public health emergency and our economic support package is one of the most comprehensive and generous in the world as we help businesses and individuals during this time.
“More than 500,000 businesses have so far claimed £4.5 billion to pay the wages of furloughed staff - and half a million firms have benefited from £6 billion of business grants. We’ve also implemented generous VAT deferrals and scrapped businesses rates.
“This scheme means that staff keep their jobs and are paid, allowing firms to bounce back and get the economy up and running once the coronavirus emergency is over.”
