French aero industry must rally in crisis
French aerospace industry association GIFAS believes the current crisis will be long.

French aerospace industry association GIFAS believes the current crisis will be long. It also has admitted that the immediate measures taken to reduce production rates will prove inadequate in the long term and that further steps will have to be taken if massive layoffs are to be avoided.

While a record 12,000 staff were hired in 2008 enabling 2,000 new jobs to be created in France, a drastic reduction is expected in new hires this year. GIFAS chairman Charles Edelstenne told a press conference last month that preservation of the supply chain is crucial to ensure that the country’s aerospace industry will be fully operational when the economy takes an upswing.