The weakness of the dollar is threatening the survival of European planemaker Airbus, its chief executive Tom Enders has told employees in Germany.

Mr Enders made the claim as he gave warning that European production plants would have to face major cost cuts to help them to counter the impact of the currency.

“The dollar’s rapid decline is life-threatening for Airbus,” Mr Enders said in a speech. “The dollar exchange rate has gone beyond the pain barrier.”

The calls from the head of Europe's biggest manufacturer will increase the pressure on European ministers and the European Central Bank to take action against the continually weakening dollar.

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, has been leading a campaign for a "fairer exchange rate".

The weak dollar is favouring Airbus's arch rival Boeing, the company claimed. The dollar hit a new low against the euro yesterday. In the year to date, the euro has gained about 12.5 per cent against the US currency.

Louis Gallois, chief executive of Airbus's parent company EADS, has said that every 10 cent decline of the dollar costs Airbus €1 billion. Airbus's restructuring plan, brought in last year to counteract the losses caused by delays to the launch of the A380 Superjumbo, was based on a dollar-euro exchange rate of $1.35, but the dollar touched $1.4873 yesterday.

This gives Boeing a massive advantage over Airbus, which is struggling to win back the lead position in aeroplane sales from the American group after it was destabilised and pushed into losses by delays to production of the new aircraft.

Airbus’s entire business model has to be reviewed again, Mr Enders said, as “reasonable processes of adjustment” were hardly possible any more. Management would look at introducing radical measures in the coming weeks, he said. "There will be no more taboos."

Airbus is already shedding about 10,000 jobs and selling plants as part of a restructuring plan brought in last year.

EADS acknowledged earlier this month that its controversial restructuring plans were inadequate to cope with the dollar’s slide. It said then that the aerospace group would have to find €1 billion ($1.48 billion) in new savings between now and 2010-11.

Airbus had planned to raise its annual €2 billion research and development budget by 25 per cent from next year, but the proposed increase is now off the agenda and R&D spending could even fall significantly below €2 billion.

Mr Enders suggested to the German unions that Airbus could shift an increasing proportion of R&D activities to countries outside Europe, if the weak dollar continues, and would have to move more production to dollar-zone economies.

"We need to question our business model. It is no longer sustainable," he said.

Unions urged governments to show support by pressing the European Central Bank to take action on the strengthening euro.

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