Airbus set to partially resume production, support global efforts against COVID-19

European planemaker Airbus SE has said it expects production and assembly work to partially resume in France and Spain on Monday following health and safety checks after the implementation of stringent measures.

In addition, the company is supporting efforts globally to tackle the COVID-19 crisis, it said in a statement.

Airbus has carried out extensive work in coordination with its social partners to ensure the health and safety of its employees while securing business continuity.

The implementation of these measures required a temporary pause in production and assembly activities at the French and Spanish sites for a period of four days.

"Work stations will only re-open if they comply with the new health and safety measures in terms of hygiene, cleaning and self-distancing while improving the efficiency of operations under new working conditions."

The same measures are being deployed across all other sites without full interruption, said Airbus.

For other non-production activities globally, Airbus continues to support home-working where possible. Some employees will be asked to return to support business continuity following the implementation of these new measures.

In February, the Airbus final assembly line at Tianjin in China reopened following a temporary production stoppage related to the coronavirus outbreak and is now operating efficiently.

Airbus is supporting those in the health, emergency and public services that rely on its aircraft, helicopters, satellites and services to accomplish their critical missions.

In addition, the company has donated thousands of face masks to hospitals and public services around Europe and has started to use its test aircraft to obtain larger quantities from suppliers in China.

A first flight with a test A330-800 aircraft has this weekend transported about two million masks from Tianjin back to Europe, of which the large majority will be donated to the Spanish and French authorities. Additional flights are planned to take place in the coming days.

"Health and safety is our number one priority at Airbus so the work stations at our sites in France and Spain will only re-open if they meet the required standards," said Airbus Chief Executive Officer Guillaume Faury.

"At the same time, we are doing all we can to support those on the frontline to fight the coronavirus and limit its spread. We try to live up to our values, humbled by the complexity of the situation, and contribute as much as we can to society in these very difficult times," he said.