Airbus rescue plan to take effect rapidly: new CEO

A rescue plan for the troubled European aircraft company Airbus will be implemented quickly, with job cuts and a review of production sites among the top priorities, new chief executive Louis Gallois said.

A day after he replaced former Airbus CEO Christian Streiff, Gallois told Europe 1 radio the plan would include the "eliminations of posts, and we will have to pose questions about sites".

Full-scale restructuring of Airbus would take place "after several months of work", and be marked by "dialogue and balance", added Gallois, who is also co-chief executive of the parent group EADS.

The rescue plan dubbed Power8 was presented last week by Streiff, who stepped down on Monday after just 100 days as head of Airbus.

The European plane maker is struggling to overcome two-year delays to its flagship A380 superjumbo program as well as problems that plague two other planned models, the mid-sized A350 XWB and the A400M military transport.

The company produces planes at two sites in Germany and France under an industrial model that protects jobs in both countries but which analysts say adds to costs and complexity.

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