German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Jacques Chirac on Friday urged a "fair division" of the burden in restructuring Airbus amid cross-border strain over the European jet maker.
Chirac said after informal talks in Germany that he and Merkel were confident that the management of Airbus would take equitable decisions on job cuts and plant closures in France and Germany and cushion the blow to affected communities.
"There must be no forced redundancies," he said, implying that job cuts would come through attrition or similar measures.
Merkel said that while the human impact of any restructuring must be minimized, Airbus must be whipped into shape so it can hold its own against international competitors such as Boeing.
"Airbus' competitiveness is the highest priority," she told a joint press conference.
Merkel also tried to play down the bilateral tensions the plans have triggered.
"That is normal in such a difficult situation for a company. And this normal approach must in no way be abused to stoke a conflict in any way between two countries -- that is our political message," she said. "We are politically in complete agreement that that would be the worst thing for this company and its employees in both countries. Germany and France will see Airbus through this difficult time together."
She said there must be "a fair redivision of opportunities and risks" between the neighbors on "the future of new technologies" to be used in future aircraft.
Tensions rose between Paris and Berlin this week over the crucial "Power8" restructuring program of Airbus, a unit of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS).
The scheme is to be unveiled when the aerospace giant publishes its annual earnings on March 9.
Merkel said it was now up to EADS to take the necessary decisions "so we do not find ourselves faced with similar problems in a year or two."
The rescue plan, arising from problems in the A380 superjumbo airliner program, has already been stalled for four months due to wrangling between German and French interests over where cuts will fall.
The company faced more bad news on Friday when US courier company United Parcel Service Inc (UPS) suggested it could cancel its order for 10 Airbus superjumbo freighters in case of further delivery delays.
Any withdrawal by UPS would sound the effective death knell for the European company's plans to build a cargo version of its enormous A380 plane. UPS is the only remaining customer after FedEx pulled out last year.
On Monday, Airbus was forced to suddenly delay an announcement due the following day on how the restructuring scheme would work, citing conflicting national interests in the development and building of Airbus' next generation of big jets, the A350.
Chief executive Louis Gallois stressed that Airbus "cannot delay any longer" over the plan to save 5 billion euros (US$6.6 billion) by 2010 and 2 billion euros per year thereafter.
Germany openly expressed its irritation on Tuesday after French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin announced that 10,000 jobs would be axed at the plane maker.
German government spokesman Thomas Steg insisted that no such decision had been taken.
With France heading for presidential elections in April and May, its government is likely to be highly sensitive to big job cuts.
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