Long-term future doubts at Airbus

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/wales/6406995.stm

Version 0 of 1.

There are fears over the long-term future of the Airbus factory in Broughton, Flintshire, after the announcement of job losses there.

Aviation analyst Howard Wheeldon said although the short and mid-term future of the plant was safe, there was no long-term investment commitment.

Around 800 people out of the 7,000 workers are thought to be affected by job losses announced on Wednesday.

The firm plan 1,600 job cuts over four years at Broughton and Filton, Bristol.

Although the Broughton job losses were not as bad as expected, the plant has missed out on investment in so-called "composite technology", which will be used in the next generation of Airbus planes.

"What we have is short to medium term security for Broughton on the traditional wing base," said Mr Wheeldon.

I think we have to bear in mind that if that investment isn't forthcoming, then yes Broughton's prospects aren't brilliant long term Andrew Brookes

"But what we haven't got is that long-term commitment and the investment that is going to be required up there to change the basis of the way the wings are put together because that's what composites will need."

Airbus employs more than 11,000 staff in the UK at sites in Filton and in Broughton, which specialise in producing wings.

But Andrew Brookes, an aerospace expert with the International Institute for Strategic Studies was more optimistic about the future of the site.

"I think we have to bear in mind that if that investment isn't forthcoming, then yes Broughton's prospects aren't brilliant long-term," he said.

"But the government is doing a heck of a lot on this - I'm quite impressed with the effort they are putting into providing the funding for the research into this.

"At the end of the day a lot of the decisions that will be taken not just on the ability of the workforce but on the government fronting up and I'm reasonably optimistic that this government has taken on board the need to invest in this.

"And I think the signs are quite good."

Airbus has been forced to revamp its business after delays to its flagship A380 super jumbo project and because of a decline in value of the US dollar.

The UK job cuts are part of plans to shed 10,000 positions across Europe.

Airbus has about 57,000 workers in Europe and is expected to cut temporary employees on short-term contracts, in an effort to limit the effect of the redundancies on full-time Airbus staff.