Airbus cuts production after burning through $5.2bn

Airbus cuts production after burning through $5.2bn

Airbus cut back wide-body jet production after burning through an added 4.4bn euros ($5.2bn) in the second quarter, retrenching further to safeguard cash while it waits out a collapse in demand.

The world's biggest planemaker will now aim to produce five A350 aircraft a month rather than the six targeted in April, it said in a statement Thursday. The company booked 900m euros of Covid-19 related charges against earnings and said a future restructuring provision could total 1.6bn euros.

Airbus delivered 74 planes in the quarter, when global fleets were largely grounded, less than one-third of the year-ago tally. With travel set to remain below 2019's levels for several years, the company nonetheless said it aimed to stanch cash outflows in the second half of the year.

"We believe it's going to be a long and slow recovery,“ CEO Guillaume Faury said on a conference call. "We're trying to take a balanced view on this and not be too pessimistic.“

Air travel is reeling from its biggest ever slump after the pandemic brought decades of growth to an shuddering halt. That's left Faury walking a tight rope as he seeks to cram down costs without doing permanent damage to the system of suppliers and