Airbus crisis

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Airbus A380 Landing

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According to the BBC "thousands of jobs across Europe are at stake as Airbus restructures its operations in the wake of delays in its key A380 superjumbo programme.

Two UK plants, employing 11,500 people, are regarded as vulnerable to any consolidation of Airbus.

The UK sites, dedicated to aircraft wing design and manufacture, are at Filton, Bristol and Broughton, North Wales.

EADS has said its board would make a decision on the restructuring by the end of this month.

Reports have suggested that Airbus could cut up to 12,000 jobs from its 57,000-strong workforce. "

The Times newspaper also reports today that "Airbus is understood to have approached four companies in an attempt to either sell its Filton factory or establish a joint venture at the site.

Stakeholders in Airbus’s UK operations claim that GKN, Finmeccanica, Saab and Spirit AeroSystems are being considered as possible partners or acquirers of the Bristol facility, which employs 6,000 people."

All in all making the future of the Filton plant, it's employees and all local companies that service the aircraft manufacturuer, very uncertain.