Airbus has been forced to postpone an announcement on a major overhaul of the business, amid disagreement between its various European partners. The struggling planemaker said it had shelved plans to reveal a radical restructuring, likely to result in thousands of job losses, on Tuesday. France, Germany, the UK and Spain, all home to Airbus factories, have been unable to agree on future contracts.Costly delays to the A380 superjumbo have hit the company's finances. Parent firm EADS says Airbus needs to reduce its costs by 5bn euros (£3.4bn) by 2010 to boost productivity and make up for the losses from the delays to the flagship project. Further savings after 2010 - in the region of 2bn euros a year - are also likely. Government ministers and union officials from all four countries have been lobbying Airbus bosses in recent days, fearing that plants in their countries will bear the brunt of the cuts.
Newspaper reports have suggested that Airbus could cut up to 12,000 jobs from its 57,000-strong workforce. But Airbus said it had been unable to reach a "consensus" on the restructuring, particularly over which plants in which countries would handle the manufacturing and final assembly of the new A350 plane.
The firm said it hoped to resume negotiations on how contracts to build the plane - finally approved in December - would be shared out in the next few days.
I can't wait to see how the EU deploys its Rapid Response Force in a situation where casualties are expected.