Safran Eyes Morocco for Factory Relocation Amid Aerospace Industry Crisis

Safran has forecast a decline in its turnover in the first quarter, adjusted "by around 35%" in 2020 but is counting on its adaptation plan to overcome the crisis caused by the Covid-19 epidemic, reports the newspaper Sud-Ouest.

According to Safran’s CEO, Philippe Petitcolin, the crisis is deep and has been devastating in the second quarter and uncertainty prevails for the future. According to him, Safran has "shown that it is solid and that it has the means to resist".

While 4 factories, in the United Kingdom and the United States in particular, specializing in aircraft interiors and electrical systems, are to close, others will be relocated to lower-cost countries, including Morocco, Mexico, Thailand and Tunisia.

In France, where Safran had 45,000 employees and 3,000 temporary workers before the crisis, the group has concluded with the unions a "business transformation agreement" which should allow it to "get through the next 12 to 18 months of crisis while preserving the skills and competitiveness of the French activities" and avoiding layoffs. 300 to 400 young people should be hired very soon, we are told.