PARIS (AFP) — The European aircraft manufacturer Airbus has largely surpassed its 2007 cost-cutting target and could end the year with savings of as much as 400 million euros (587 million dollars), the newspaper Les Echos reported Friday.
An Airbus spokeswoman refused to comment on the report ahead of the company's annual press conference on January 16.
The paper said the 300-million-euro target will be easily eclipsed, with cuts totalling 400 million euros still possible.
Of the 10,000 jobs to be eliminated in the next four years, part of a sweeping re-structuring following costly delays to the A380 superjumbo program, around 3,000 have already been carried out through "natural" departures, the paper said.
While Airbus is still likely to post a deficit in 2007, its free cash flow should be healthy, contrary to initial forecasts, thanks to record aircraft sales, according to Les Echos.
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