Louis Gallois said yesterday that Airbus was on track on the cost-cutting targets set by the Power 8

Louis Gallois said yesterday that Airbus was on track on the cost-cutting targets set by the Power 8 restructuring plan. In terms of job cuts, he told reporters the company had achieved 60% of its targets in the UK, 55% in Spain, 42% at its Toulouse headquarters, 39% in the rest of France and 23% in Germany, where legal processes are longer. Mr Gallois also reasserted EADS’s goal to acquire companies in the US, as part of its Vision 2020 strategic plan. He declined to give further details. He warned that the current weakness of the dollar was forcing EADS to consider more savings than initially expected in the Power 8 plan. An increase in dollar-based and low-cost production should participate to those additional efforts. Mr Gallois also commented on the recent French-German tensions at the company. He said he “wished to see the climate improve at Airbus in Toulouse”, where 2,000 German workers have come to support the A380 production line. This is “not a nice situation” for the Germans, he said, and “raises relationship issues with their French colleagues”. AFP (18/06), AFX (18/06), Liberation, Suddeutsche Zeitung, Borsen-Zeitung