By And= Airbus to Cut 10,000 Jobs, Take EU680 Million Charge (Update6) =0A=0ABy And= rea Rothman=0AFeb. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Airbus SAS, struggling to end a financ= ial crisis sparked by delays in the A380 superjumbo jet, plans to cut 10,00= 0 jobs over four years and sell or find partners for six factories. =0AThe = world's biggest maker of commercial planes will slash 2.1 billion euros ($2= .8 billion) from annual costs by 2010, Chief Executive Officer Louis Galloi= s said today in Toulouse, France. Airbus will take a 680 million-euro charg= e in the first quarter to eliminate 18 percent of the workforce. =0AEuropea= n Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co., the owner of Airbus, expects to report l= osses of 4.8 billion euros through 2010 because of delays of two years on t= he 555-seat A380. Airbus needs the savings to pay for development of a new = widebody plane to challenge Boeing Co.'s 787 Dreamliner, which may help the= Chicago-based planemaker regain the lead in the aircraft industry. =0A``Th= is finally brings EADS towards market reality,'' said Christopher Dabrowski= , a senior defense analyst at Frost & Sullivan in London, who advises compa= nies in aerospace. =0AShares of EADS rose 46 cents, or 1.8 percent, to 25.9= 1 euros in Paris. The stock has fallen 16 percent over the last 12 months w= hile Boeing has gained 20 percent as the U.S. planemaker won more orders fo= r new planes than its European rival. =0A``We should have done this many ye= ars ago at the time when we created Airbus,'' said Gallois, referring to th= e combination of the planemaker as a single company in 2000 from national a= erospace firms. ``Boeing was in difficulties then, the dollar was strong, a= nd we were selling airplanes like bread.'' =0AReorganization Plan =0AAirbus= is set to report its first-ever annual loss after costs for the A380 ballo= oned to $18 billion from $12 billion. The European planemaker also plans to= spend 11.8 billion euros to develop the A350 XWB to compete with the Boein= g 787. =0AThe company also is burdened by the decline of the dollar against= the euro. Aircraft sales are priced in dollars while about half of Airbus'= s costs are in euros. The dollar has lost 40 percent of its value against t= he euro since December 2000, when Airbus committed to building the A380. Ga= llois said every 10 cent decline in the dollar costs Airbus 1 billion euros= in profit. =0AGallois said a goal of the reorganization plan, known as Pow= er8, is for suppliers to do about 50 percent of the work on Airbus's planes= compared with 25 percent now. =0AAirbus currently has 56,400 employees spr= ead over 17 sites France, Germany the U.K. and Spain. The plan will cut 3,2= 00 jobs in France from a staff of 17,600. They will also cut 1,100 jobs fro= m Airbus's headquarters in Toulouse, which now employs 4,700 people. In Ger= many Airbus will cut 3,700 jobs from a total of 20,800. Spain will see 400 = jobs go and Britain 1,600. =0APartner Sites =0AAirbus also said it plans to= seek partners for three plants as those sites move from building parts fro= m aluminum and other metals to working in composite materials. =0AGallois s= aid the partnerships could involve other companies buying a small piece of = a factory and gradually increasing their share. He didn't name any potentia= l buyers who've looked at the sites. Those plants are Filton in the U.K., M= eaulte in northern France and Nordenham in Germany. =0AThe company is looki= ng to sell three plants, including Laupheim and Varel in Germany and St. Na= zaire-Ville in France. =0AAirbus's moves are aimed at helping it prepare fo= r a future when metals such as aluminum and steel are increasingly replaced= by composites, or carbon-fiber reinforced plastics. =0A``The future of air= planes is plastic, not aluminum,'' said Nick Cunningham, an analyst at Panm= ure Gordon in London who has a ``sell'' recommendation on EADS shares. =0AC= omposite Materials =0AAirbus's planned A350 XWB, scheduled to enter service= in 2013, will be about 50 percent from composite materials, as compared wi= th 25 percent for the A380, now under production. Boeing's 787, which is se= t to enter service next year, is also about 50 percent composites. =0AAirbu= s employees are likely to fight changes, as the benefits that go with Airbu= s jobs may be more generous than those at subcontractors, said Xavier Petra= chi, who represents French Airbus workers in the left-wing CGT union. =0A``= When you're hired at Airbus, it's not the same thing as being hired elsewhe= re,'' said Petrachi in an interview. ``It's not the same salary, not the sa= me statute, not the same working conditions.'' =0AChristian Streiff quit as= Airbus CEO last year after just three months on the job after running into= opposition to his proposed job and cost cuts. =0AIG Metall, the German uni= on representing Airbus workers, has threatened a slowdown that would preven= t the company from meeting its delivery target of 440 planes this year. For= ce Ouvriere, the largest Airbus union in France, threatened similar measure= s. =0AUnion Opposition =0AEuropean Metalworkers' Federation General Secreta= ry Peter Scherrer said yesterday at a briefing in Brussels that the workers= will not accept job cuts without a fight. =0AWorkers at the Varel and Nord= enham factories in Germany walked off production lines at 4 p.m. to protest= the company's plan, Michael Scrod, an IG Metall official in Hamburg, said.= =0ABoeing, which lost the lead to Airbus in commercial aircraft in 2003, h= as bounced back with the introduction of the 787, beating Airbus in new ord= ers in 2006 for the first time in five years. Boeing's 787 has won 452 orde= rs so far compared with 100 for Airbus's A350. =0AThe U.S. planemaker recei= ved total orders for 1,004 aircraft last year compared with 790 for Airbus.= The European company maintained its delivery lead 434 planes to 395. =0AGa= llois said in an interview that he expects United Parcel Service Inc., its = only customer for the A380 freighter, to ``postpone'' its order for 10 plan= es by a decade. =0AA380 Freighter =0AAirbus ``in coming days'' will make a = decision on whether to push back plans to produce a freighter version of th= e plane, Gallois said. UPS said last week it has yet to decide whether to r= etain the $2.8 billion order. =0AThe yield premium, or spread, investors de= mand to hold EADS bonds rather than government debt of similar maturity, so= ared. The spread on the company's 1 billion euros of 4.625 percent bonds du= e 2010 widened 6 basis points to 36 basis points, according to Royal Bank o= f Canada. The spread on its 500 million euros of 5.5 percent due 2018 widen= ed 3 basis points to 62 basis points. A basis point is 0.01 percentage poin= t. =0ATo contact the reporter on this story: Andrea Rothman in Toulouse, Fr= ance at aerothman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx