Aerospace giant Airbus is cutting 295 jobs at its factory in Filton.

Earlier this week the company announced plans to axe 15,000 jobs worldwide, with 1,730 jobs going in the UK.

The plant at Broughton in North Wales set to bear the brunt of the UK cuts.

Airbus said it had opened talks on its “adaptation plan”, which it unveiled earlier this week in response to the collapse in air travel as a result of the pandemic.

A statement said: “These figures include integrated corporate functions which support all divisions in the UK.

“This split reflects the significant impact the Covid crisis has had on the UK’s commercial aircraft manufacturing activities which are concentrated in Broughton.

“Airbus will continue to meet regularly with its trade union partners in the UK in order to identify solutions that will help us implement this adaptation while minimising the social impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the company.”

Leader of South Gloucestershire Council, Toby Savage, said yesterday: “My thoughts go out to Airbus employees, the Filton base is located in South Gloucestershire and many of the staff live in the area so this will undoubtedly have an impact locally. We are hopeful that the UK redundancies can be achieved through voluntary redundancies and/or early retirements where possible.

“Our economic development team will work closely with Airbus and their employees, along with other elements of the supply chain, to provide support at this time and as the market recovers. Our area is a key part of the R&D programme designing the planes of tomorrow and is home to globally important projects such as Airbus’ ‘Wing of the Future’ programme and we will do all that we can to ensure that the aerospace sector remains resilient.

“A taskforce has been set up to drive the West of England’s (WoE) economic recovery, which is a partnership between the West of England Combined Authority (WECA), the region’s councils, the Local Enterprise Partnership, business and universities, and one of the main themes is around aerospace and advanced engineering. Working alongside WECA and Airbus we will continue to lobby for support on programmes like the Brunel Challenge to ensure that during these difficult times the specialist skills we have developed in this area are retained ready for the future.”

West of England Mayor Tim Bowles said: “This is a challenging time for the aerospace sector as a whole and very disappointing news for the hard-working and talented team at Filton. I have asked my officers at the West of England Combined Authority to bring together and lead a multi-agency rapid redundancy response – involving government departments including DWP, employers, education and training providers and unions – to put together a package of options to help affected staff secure new roles or develop new skills.

"This will include access to a range of programmes managed by the Combined Authority such as Future Bright, the emerging Workforce for the Future, the Adult Education Budget and signposting via the Growth Hub. I have also begun conversations with Talent Retention Solutions to explore developing a regional business-to-business platform to help workers find alternative employment and retraining opportunities.

“This sits alongside the West of England Combined Authority’s strategic investment in the aerospace and advanced manufacturing sector, including the Digital Engineering Technology and Innovation (DETI) programme – designed to help the sector move into a digitalised and low carbon future. We are also leading a bid for the whole of the South West to run a Made Smarter programme to support the resilience and adaptation of the supply chain.

"With the support of our West of England Regional Recovery Taskforce we are also making the case to government to further support the wider aerospace and advanced engineering sector.”