Post date: Feb 08, 2013 9:58:0 PM
MOBILE, Alabama – Airbus parent company European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co. plans to hire 5,000 people worldwide in 2013 to keep pace with swelling demand for jetliners and helicopters, Bloomberg reports. Nearly two-thirds of the new hires, or about 3,000 positions, are expected to come at Airbus which is increasing production of A330 wide-body aircraft from nine to 10 per month, launching production of the larger A350 models and working to bring the single-aisle A320neo into service by 2015, according to Bloomberg.
A planned $600 million final assembly line dedicated to production of A320 family aircraft at Mobile’s Brookley Aeroplex will certainly play a key role in the company’s future hiring plans, but the Mobile facility is not expected to reach its employment target of at least 1,000 until production begins in 2015. A groundbreaking ceremony is tentatively scheduled for April, but Airbus has not yet finalized or begun advertising job openings for the Brookley plant. The Alabama Industrial Development Training program is working closely with Airbus as the project’s recruitment partner and will post job openings online. To view job descriptions and application methods as they become available click here.
Thierry Baril, human resources chief for both EADS and Airbus, told Bloomberg the 2013 hiring wave will boost EADS' global employment to more than 140,000 and involve a variety of trades and skill levels. “It’s not just engineers. Given the growth in production we’ll be hiring in all categories, including shop-floor workers, technicians and people who work on the supply chain and procurement,” Baril told Bloomberg. In 2012, EADS increased total employment by 7,000 with Airbus, alone, accounting for 5,000 of the new hires. Current U.S. employees account for less than 2 percent of EADS total payroll.
By Kelli Dugan | kdugan@al.com on February 06, 2013 at 11:31 AM