Airbus to Partially Resume Production in France and Spain

Airbus is expected to partially resume production and assembly work in France and Spain today, after pausing work on 17 March so that it could carry out stringent health and safety checks.

Work stations will re-open as long as they comply with the new health and safety measures in terms of hygiene, cleaning and self-distancing. The same measures are being deployed across all other Airbus sites without full interruption.

For other non-production activities globally, Airbus continues to support home-working where possible, though it has admitted that some employees will be asked to return to support business continuity following the implementation of the new measures.

In February, the Airbus Final Assembly Line in Tianjin, China, reopened following a temporary production stoppage related to the coronavirus outbreak and is now operating efficiently.

“Health and safety is our number one priority at Airbus so the work stations at our sites in France and Spain will only re-open if they meet the required standards,” said Airbus Chief Executive Officer Guillaume Faury. “I’d like to salute the strong commitment from our employees to ensure business continuity in close cooperation with our social partners and other stakeholders. At the same time we are doing all we can to support those on the frontline to fight the coronavirus and limit its spread. We try to live up to our values, humbled by the complexity of the situation, and contribute as much as we can to society in these very difficult times.”

In the past days, Airbus has donated thousands of face masks to hospitals and public services around Europe and has started to use its test aircraft to obtain larger quantities from suppliers in China.

A first flight with a test A330-800 aircraft has just this weekend transported approximately 2 million masks from Tianjin back to Europe, of which the large majority will be donated to the Spanish and French authorities. Additional flights are planned to take place in the coming days.

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