Airbus to cut 2500 staff in Space Systems

Airbus Defence and Space is planning to cut 2500 jobs across Europe in its space systems division after poor results.

The cuts will happen until mid 2026 and will not require compulsory redundancies, says the company. It saw a charge of €900m ($965m) in June 2024 following problems with a number of telecoms, navigation and observation satellites as well as problems with suppliers. This follows a €600m charge in 2023.

The company has space equipment plants in Stevenage, UK, as well as five plants in France, five in Germany and three in Spain. Airbus UK launched an accelerator for space startups in June.

“In recent years, the defence and space sector and, thus, our Division have been impacted by a fast changing and very challenging business context with disrupted supply chains, rapid changes in warfare and increasing cost pressure due to budgetary constraints,” said Mike Schoellhorn, CEO of the Airbus Defence and Space business.

“While transformation efforts initiated in 2023 have started bearing fruit, particularly on operational performance and risk management, we are now taking the next steps, not least to adjust to an increasingly difficult space market. We want to shape the Division so it can act as a leading and competitive player in this ever-evolving market. This requires us to become faster, leaner and more competitive,” he said.

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“Airbus has a long track record of acting as a responsible employer in difficult situations and this time will be no different. It is clear though that we must adapt if we want to champion our industry and lead Europe’s ecosystem of Defence Aerospace.”

Details of the plan will be specified together with the company’s social partners.