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EADS changes name

January 2, 2014

European aeronautics giant EADS has renamed itself after the product it's known for best, notably Airbus. The rechristening process goes hand in hand with a deep restructuring seeing thousands of jobs go.

https://p.dw.com/p/1AkOs
An Airbus A350-XWB plane lands after a test flight
Image: Reuters

EADS on Thursday metamorphosed into Airbus Group, highlighting the company's most recognizable and most successful product, Airbus planes.

The company confirmed it would now have only three units instead of the previous four with a view to streamlining operations in the multinational enterprise.

Most significantly, the firm united its defense and space segments formerly known as Cassidian, Astrium and Airbus Military, while its Eurocopter division became Airbus Helicopters and its Airbus commercial manufacturing division remaining in place.

Harsh cuts ahead

"Joining forces under the strong Airbus brand gives all our operations and employees the thrust and lift to capture global markets," CEO Tom Enders remarked, with the name change still subject to approval by shareholders.

More Revenues for Airbus - aviation industry suppliers under pressure

In response to sluggish orders of late, the defense division will trimmed considerably, with 5,800 jobs to be cut Europe-wide by 2016. About 2,600 of the threatened jobs are in Germany.

The Airbus Group said it would negotiate the details of the layoffs with employee representatives in the coming months.

hg/se (AFP, dpa, Reuters)