Airbus cuts back again

AIRBUS INDUSTRIE, the European aircraft manufacturer in which British Aerospace has a 20 per cent stake, yesterday announced further cuts in production in response to the worldwide downturn in airline orders, writes Michael Harrison.

The cuts, the third in less than a year, will result in Airbus producing about 50 fewer aircraft than planned between 1993 and 1995.

Production had been due to rise from just over 14 aircraft a month to 20 planes a month in 1995. Under the revised schedule production will only reach 16 in 1995.

'We are not in the business of manufacturing white tails (aircraft for which there are no customers), so we are adjusting our production to meet requirements,' an Airbus spokesman said.

The consortium said, however, that it had asked its partners to maintain their ability to increase production should there be an improvement in the market. The other Airbus members are France, Germany and Spain.