Airbus, the troubled aircraft maker, today confirmed that it was axeing 10,000 jobs across the UK, France, Germany and Spain.

Some 1,600 jobs will go at the two UK plants at Filton, near Bristol and Broughton in North Wales - around half will be contractors rather than permanent employees - while 4,300 jobs will go in France, 3,700 in Germany and 400 in Spain over the next four years.

Louis Gallois, Airbus's chief executive, said he would review the size of the workforce in 12 to 18 months' time to see if further cuts were necessary.

He also invited businesses to enter risk-sharing partnerships to help to develop several sites across Europe, including a new centre of excellence at Filton to build carbon-fibre wings for the planned new mid-sized Airbus A350.

This ultra-light jet will be assembled and fitted out at Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, southern France.

A third assembly line for the A320 series will be established at the factory in Hamburg, Germany.

Airbus, a subsidiary of the Franco-German aerospace group EADS, said that it was making a provision of €680 million (£460 million) in the first quarter of 2007 for the cost of restructuring.

No forced redundancies under the job-cutting plan were envisaged at this stage, Airbus said.

Bernie Hamilton, national officer of Amicus, the trade union, said: “We are extremely disappointed that 1,600 jobs will be lost in the UK. That said, Filton will gain a foothold in composite technology that is vital in securing its future and that of UK manufacturing.”

Alistair Darling, Trade and Industry Secretary, said: “While the job losses here - and in even greater numbers in France and Germany - are to be regretted, the long-term future for Airbus in the UK is a good one. The UK will now become a truly transnational centre of excellence for wing and propulsion systems.”

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