The newly appointed head of Airbus has warned there are likely to be job losses at Airbus in the wake of delays to the A380 superjumbo and a profit warning.
But Louis Gallois said the cuts were more likely to be in administrative and management jobs because the current structure was too heavy and the group needed its blue-worker workers to make and deliver its planes.
Mr Gallois, who remains co-CEO of parent EADS, was named late yesterday to replace Christian Streiff as Airbus chief a week after Airbus pushed back its A380 superjumbo by another year and issued a new profit warning.
Mr Streiff had been at the helm of Airbus for just three months.
The new Airbus chief said decisions on the company's structure will be taken in several months, and that he hoped the EADS board would give its go-ahead for the launch of the planned A350 mid-size passenger aircraft in the next few months.
Mr Gallois added that the weak dollar had eroded Airbus's competitiveness versus rival Boeing, and the European group therefore needed to cut its cost base, as outlined in plans drawn up by Mr Streiff.
Analysts have often said that Airbus has been hampered by internal tensions between the French and German parts of the company, but Mr Gallois denied this was the case since Airbus's superjumbo woes stemmed mainly from difficulties installing wiring.
