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Airbus (AIR-2.89%) is trying to take on another of its many headaches, this time in space. The Wall Street Journal (NWS-1.58%) reports that the French planemaker might cut as many as 2,500 jobs in its space-and-defense division.
In a statement euphemistically headlined “Airbus Defence and Space adapts to challenging business environment,” the company said that the cuts were meant to shore up a part of the company that has been struggling with a variety of challenges — in June, Airbus took nearly $1 billion in charges linked to the department.
“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,” division head Mike Schoellhorn in the press release. “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.”
Like arch rival Boeing (BA-1.85%), Airbus has faced a lot of competition in the space market from Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Last month, CEO Guillaume Faury mulled a cross-contiental team-up with other European aerospace firms to take on the upstart in the same manner that allowed it overtake Boeing a few years ago.