Airbus announced its long-awaited restructuring proposals yesterday, and French and German workers responded swiftly by staging a walkout.

The company plans to cut 10,000 jobs, outsource three factories and sell or close a further three. Despite a record order book worth €200 billion (£135 billion), the European aircraft manufacturer has been struggling with the weak dollar and the high costs of its inefficient structure.

Louis Gallois, the chief executive of Airbus, set out yesterday how he intended to simplify the company’s pan-European operations to free money and engineering talent to build the company’s next aircraft, the €10 billion A350. The restructuring proposals, called Power 8, are highly controversial and politicians across the Continent are wading into the debate.

Mr Gallois attacked the political interference and the bickering between governments over the company’s future, calling the situation a “poison”.

Trade unions were unhappy with the restructuring and have threatened industrial action. German and French workers walked off the job yesterday in protest at the redundancies.

Power 8 calls for Airbus to outsource more work to suppliers. The company takes only about 25 per cent of its components from third parties, compared with 80 per cent for Boeing and 75 per cent for Embraer. The A350 will source about half from third parties, and Airbus has started the process of outsourcing by putting three of its component factories up for sale: Saint-Nazaire, in France, and Varel and Laupheim, in Germany. If no buyer is found, these factories are likely to close. Airbus will seek joint-venture partners for three other factories: Filton, near Bristol, Meaulte, in France, and Nordenham, in Germany.

Mr Gallois said that these factories could become wholly owned by the joint-venture partner. By outsourcing these facilities, he said, Airbus would be able to spread its investment costs and risk.

Airbus was also trimming its 55,000strong workforce, with 3,700 jobs to go in Germany, 3,200 in France, 1,600 in the UK, 400 in Spain and 1,100 in Toulouse, the corporate headquarters. About half of these jobs entail contractors; the other half will be offered early retirement.

Airbus was also attempting to streamline its Europe-wide operations. In future it will assemble one aircraft at one site, rather than the present system of carrying out construction in Hamburg and Toulouse. For example, the A350 will be built in France, but Germany will get the A320 when it is revamped in about eight years.

Airbus will also streamline where the key parts of its aircraft are built, halving the number of core factories – or centres of excellence – to four. Germany will be responsible for the fuselages, Spain the tails, Britain the wings and France the interiors and electrical systems.

Joint-venture partners sought

Airbus is seeking joint-venture partners to invest in its Filton factory. Filton, near Bristol, is one of three plants that the aircraft manufacturer is outsourcing as part of cost-cutting measures.

As The Times reported last week, four potential partners are understood to have been approached: GKN, Finmeccanica, Saab and Spirit AeroSystems. There had been concerns that Filton would be one of three factories Airbus has decided to sell or close.

Instead, the company will outsource about 50 per cent of operations at Filton, which is where Concorde was built in the 1970s. The joint-venture partner could then be allowed to buy out the facility in the future.

Airbus will retain wing design work at Filton, while its partner will make wing components. The wings themselves will be built at Broughton, North Wales.

Times Recommends

• Lies and cover-up at MG Rover exposed by report
• High oil prices push manufacturing costs up
• Primark founder steps down as chief executive