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Airbus has announced that about 1,600 jobs will be axed in the UK over the next four years as part of a major restructuring programme.

The beleaguered aircraft builder announced today that it would be cutting "some 10,000 overhead positions" in Europe over four years but said none of those would be through forced redundancies.

Germany will be hardest hit, with 3,700 jobs set to go at German sites, while France will experience 3,200 job cuts and Spain 400.

There will also be 1,100 lost from the Airbus Central Entity in Toulouse, France, the company said.

The widely-anticipated announcement comes as Airbus struggles to cope with the weakness of the US dollar, increased competitive pressure and the fallout from delays to its much-hyped A380 Airbus.

Airbus' so-called 'Power8 plan' comes after the firm warned last month that it expected to post a loss of profits in March due to a decline in sales. Although Airbus received a record-breaking 1,111 orders in 2005, 2006 saw just over 600 new orders.

"The core objective of Power8 is to make Airbus more efficient and competitive, so as to produce the most advanced and profitable products, and to serve its customers better in the future," said Tom Enders and Louis Gallois, the chief executives of European Aeronautic Defence and Space (EADS), Airbus' parent company.

EADS and Airbus chief financial officer Hans Peter added: "Without establishing Power8 quickly, profitability will drift significantly short of industry standards and of reasonable expectations.

"This is an unsustainable and unacceptable situation. Power8 is designed to reduce that gap."

Airbus has factories in Filton, Bristol, and Broughton, north Wales, in the UK and ten per cent of jobs at these sites are set to go as part of the restructuring.

But the Filton site has been boosted by the news that it will host one of eight centres of excellence for work on the wing of the A350 Airbus.

"Airbus will replace the current organisation of eight nationally structured centres of excellence by four truly transnational centres of excellence: fuselage and cabin (based in Germany), wing (based in the UK), rear end (based in Spain), and aerostructures (based in France), the latter being in charge of fuselage subassembly and interior furnishing activities," a company statement said.