AIRCRAFT manufacturer Airbus, which has major operations on Deeside, is refusing to abandon its cost- saving plans despite a potential profits windfall as the dollar soars in value.

The company says the volatility of currency markets means it must press ahead with a restructuring which includes plans to shed 10,000 employees – 700 of them at Broughton, near Chester.

Airbus parent company EADS had previously used the weakening of the dollar against the euro as a major plank in support of the Power8 restructuring pro- gramme which aims to ach- ieve savings of 2.1bn euros a year by 2010. It had based its calculations on assumptions that a euro was worth $1.45 – but the dollar has rebounded in recent months.

Both Airbus and its US rival Boeing price their planes in dollars but EADS must then convert sales proceeds into euros. EADS has said that a change of 10 cents in the euro's value against the dollar makes a difference of 1bn euros in operating profit.

Around half of production costs incurred by Airbus are in euros and it has been trying to outsource work on new models to dollar economies.

But wings for all its models will continue to be made at Broughton which employs around 7,000 people, even after the cutback.