Default Rates Projected to Soar

Airbus already has plans to outsource half of its new-generation planes such as the A350.

Tom Enders, Airbus chief executive, has called the soaring euro life-threatening. But this can also be seen as a way of preparing the unions to accept even more swingeing job cuts than the 10,000 planned under the Power8 restructuring programme. This was drawn up on the assumption that the euro would remain at about $1.35 and included proposals to sell off eight plants or attract risk-sharing investors such as GKN at Filton, near Bristol. But these have been put on hold because of the rising euro and relatively poor offers, raising fears in the French media that more than 15,000 jobs are at risk in Europe.

Joaquín Almunia, the EU economic and monetary affairs commissioner, has shaved the European commission's eurozone growth forecast for 2008 to close to 2%. read more