Airbus has announced plans to cut 2,000 jobs in a sign that Europe is fast losing ground to the U.S. and Elon Musk’s SpaceX in the new space race.
The Dutch-headquartered aircraft and satellite manufacturer is laying off middle management and wider office roles across Europe in a bid to cut costs, with the round of layoffs set to be concluded by mid-2026.
In a running theme for 2024, German workers will take the biggest hit, with 689 Airbus employees set to lose their jobs over the next two years. The French unit will face 540 losses, while the U.K. will see 477 job cuts. The company will also cut 303 jobs in Spain. The layoffs aren’t expected to include compulsory redundancies.
Demand for European satellites has plummeted amid competition from SpaceX, which produces cheaper satellites for low orbit.
Airbus faced higher losses in its defense and space division in the first nine months of 2024, losing €617 million against a €3 million deficit in the first nine months of 2023.
The group previously said in October it planned to cut 2,500 roles in its defense and space division. The company is undertaking a long-running efficiency drive to its defense and space operations, code-named ATOM, to combat what division CEO Mike Schoellhorn described as an “increasingly difficult space market.”
Other firms in Europe have also felt the effects of overwhelming competition from SpaceX.
In March, French group Thales announced 1,300 job cuts in its Alenia Space division, blaming falling demand for its satellites.
The timing of Airbus’s announcement, which pulls into fresh focus Europe’s challenges in space, undermined a landmark moment for the region’s ambitions.
Europe’s Vega-C rocket launched on Thursday for the first time since a failed attempt in 2022, after improvements were made to the vessel’s nozzle. The vessel, which was made by Italian group Avio, carried the Copernicus Sentinel-1C satellite, and will be used to observe Earth.
“We are once again proud to contribute to the European Copernicus program and more broadly to an independent access to space for Europe through our launchers,” said Avio CEO Giulio Ranzo.
The European Space Agency launched its inaugural Ariane 6 rocket in July, which, it is hoped, will compete with SpaceX’s Falcon 9.
The election of Donald Trump as U.S. president has created fresh urgency for European policymakers, who will want to beef up their sovereignty in defense and space amid uncertainty over the future of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
