Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury has written to the company’s 135,000 staff, including around 6,000 who work in Deeside, warning of deep cuts due to the coronavirus crisis. Tony McDonough reports

Planemaker Airbus is battling to stay afloat after revealing the coronavirus crisis meant it was “bleeding cash at an unprecedented speed”.

Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury has written to the company’s 135,000 staff, including around 6,000 who work at the giant wing-making plant at Broughton in Deeside, to warn that more cuts would be on the way.

This week the business will publish first quarter results which are likely to show how the global financial emergency caused by the spread of the virus was having a devastating effect on the aviation industry.

Airlines have grounded flights across the world and are themselves fighting to stay in business. It is certain to lead to a big slump in orders for Airbus and its North American rival, Boeing.

Mr Faury said in his letter: “In just a couple of weeks we have lost one third of our business. And frankly that’s not even the worst-case scenario we could face. Unfortunately, the aviation industry will emerge into this new world very much weaker and more vulnerable than when we went into it.”

As well as the plant in Deeside, which employs many people from the Liverpool city region, Airbus also operates another large plant at Filton near Bristol, where thousands more workers are based.