European airplane manufacturer Airbus will freeze hiring and make other cost-cutting moves as part of its new performance improvement plan. The plan was shared with the staff in an internal memo.
Airbus has been facing increased production costs lately while its revenue per unit has stagnated. Now, the company wants to flip the script and assess some deeper productivity issues that have been plaguing it. As part of the plan, Airbus could remove some positions, although the moves won’t come in the form of a “formal redundancy program.”
“In view of the continued pressure in the supply chain as well as the overall complex economic situation, there is a need to concentrate our efforts on the fundamentals. Airbus has therefore launched an improvement program,” Airbus spokesman said in a statement shared with media outlets.
In the first half of 2024, Airbus delivered 323 airplanes, an improvement from 316 planes delivered in the same period of last year. However, the numbers were still below what the company internally expected, with supply chain issues being a big part of the reason.
Airbus’ performance improvement plan comes at a time when the company is facing pressure from cheaper and fast-growing rival Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac). US airplane maker Boeing is also expected to bounce back after recent issues with the 737 Max model.