The sweet moment of Boeing and Airbus: they will hire 23,000 workers in the midst of a wave of technological layoffs

The aeronautical industry wants to build muscle with an eye on the future. In a context marked by the cuts between BigTech and after a complex stage for airlines, which are facing, among other challenges, the shortage of pilots that follows the hangover from the pandemic, two of the world’s largest aircraft manufacturers have just announced an offensive to strengthen your templates.

And strong, too.

Over the last few days, Boeing and Airbus have announced a contracting plan that amounts —between both companies— around 23,000 jobsa figure that is added to the offer that they already launched last year.

The first to advance their plans was Airbus. In a statement Launched at the end of January, the European company announced its intention to hire more than 13,000 people worldwide throughout this year. Just over half, some 7,000, will also cover newly created positions in the company.

Objective: build muscle

“In 2022 we welcomed more than 13,000 new employees into Team Airbus around the world at a complicated environment that tested our resilience and attractiveness as an employer,” explains Thierry Barila company executive, who advances that after the “success” of last year, the company will rehire more than 13,000 employees in the coming months.

The bulk, more than 9,000, will be concentrated in Europe and a third of the offer will be reserved for professionals who have just finished their training.

Shortly after, it was Boeing that shared the plans of its Human Resources department. Throughout 2013 —gathered by various agencies, such as Reuters either the Spanish EFE— The US aeronautics company plans to hire nearly 10,000 employees for its business unit and engineering and manufacturing tasks. The multinational would also come from an intense exercise in the labor aspect, with the hiring of around 14,000 people throughout the past year.

Compared to 142,000 employees at the end of 2021, for the same dates in 2022 it reached a workforce of 156,000, the vast majority, as collected by Reuters, In U.S.A. The firm also foresees, in any case, “reducing staffing in some support functions”, although without going into details about its scope. Airbus in turn employs more and 130,000 in their business on a global scale.

Airbus steps up its quest for new talent to prepare the future of aerospace.https://t.co/rGYeMGZKgz pic.twitter.com/fxqrihly4X

—Airbus Newsroom (@AirbusPRESS) January 26, 2023

What is the goal of hiring offensives?

Airbus advances that it is mainly looking for technical profiles and for manufacturing work and its new signings will be “fundamental” to support its “industrial acceleration and ambitious roadmap” of decarbonization. The sector faces the pressing challenge of reducing its environmental footprint, a demand that has already found its way into the political debate. In France, for example, airlines are already facing the suppression of certain short flights precisely to replace them with rail services, with a lower polluting impact per passenger.

In this effort, both Airbus and Boeing have proposed different strategies, such as the use of fans that allow CO2 to be captured to thus offset emissions, new designs that reduce the resistance in flight and allow a more efficient use of fuel or even the use of sustainable sources.

At Boeing, most of the growth will be concentrated in the business, engineering and manufacturing units, all with the purpose of satisfying the demand of the airlines. In November, the executive president of Ryanair, Michael O’Leary, recalled that the low cost has a contract to take delivery of 51 Boeing aircraft by April and hoped to have 40 by the end of June. “It is fundamental for our growth”, the CEO settled of Ryanair in an act of Eurocontrol.

It’s not the only one. A few months ago Air Europa signed a framework agreement with Boeing to renew its fleet from 2023 with the addition of the new Boeing 787-9, Dreamliner and Boeing 737 Max models. On the table, added The country, there would be eight 787 units and five 737 Max for an amount that could reach 2,500 million euros. In general, according to Reuters, the American company plans to increase deliveries of both models. The IAG airline holding company -in which Iberia and British Airways are integrated- has also contributed to Airbus’ workload with the formalization of the order of 14 A320neo aircraft.

The new hiring offensive comes after difficult chapters for both multinationals. The serious crisis that Boeing lived years ago with what was its star plane, the 737 MAX, caused it to close the 2019 financial year with its first negative result in decades and losses of 636 million dollars. The crisis generated by the health crisis, with the order cancellationalso led him to announce a considerable cut of your template. In May 2020, shortly after the pandemic began, they signed up for a snip of 6,770 workers.

The blow of COVID-19 also reached the European Airbus, which in 2020 also announced a reduction of 15,000 jobs in its commercial aircraft division, a significant adjustment that was also felt in Spain, precisely due to the need to “resize its activity” in the face of the challenge posed by the pandemic and the reduction in the number of orders.

Cover image: Airbus