Airbus says 3,700 posts impacted by lower production rates

PARIS (Reuters) - European planemaker Airbus said up to 3,700 positions would be impacted by a cut in the production rates for its A380 and A400M plane programmes, which are Europe's biggest civil and military aerospace projects respectively.

"At this stage, Airbus estimates the maximum impact of these measures will affect up to 3,700 positions at sites across the company's home countries of France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain," Airbus said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Airbus is committed to managing any implications for its workforce in a responsible manner - as already successfully demonstrated on various occasions in the past. The company is confident that it will be able to propose opportunities to most of the affected employees through programmes which are ramping up," it added.

Airbus, whose main rival is Boeing, has cut production rates of the A380 - the world's largest passenger jet - due to weak demand, and it has also faced delays and cost overruns on the A400M military plane programme.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Cyril Altmeyer; Editing by Leigh Thomas)