Airbus's A380 decision won't cause major job losses in Germany: government

Reuters
Sections of Airbus A380 are seen outside the Airbus A380 final assembly line site at Airbus headquarters in Blagnac, near Toulouse, France February 14, 2019. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau

BERLIN (Reuters) - The German government is not expecting widespread job cuts in Europe's largest economy following Airbus's decision to scrap production of the A380 superjumbo, the aerospace policy coordinator told Reuters on Thursday.

Thomas Jarzombek said around 3,500 jobs in Germany would be affected by Airbus's announcement but added: "We expect these jobs will largely continue to exist, working on different models such as the A350, the newest plane on the market, or the A330 neo."

Jarzombek, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives, said the German government was talking to Airbus and putting pressure on the company with the aim of ensuring that production of Airbus's other models retained the same distribution around Europe.

(Reporting by Christian Kraemer,; Writing by Michelle Martin,; Editing by Tassilo Hummel)