ENGINEERING giant Meggitt is cutting 1,800 jobs around the world while moving its headquarters from Bournemouth Airport to the West Midlands.

The company, which makes parts used in planes, said it was axing around 15 per cent of its 12,000-strong worldwide workforce in response to a slump in civil aerospace demand as it seeks to cut costs by up to £450million.

It said it was too early to comment on where the jobs would be cut.

Earlier this month, Meggitt officially registered a change in its headquarters address from Aviation Park West at Hurn to Ansty Park near Coventry.

In a trading update covering the coronavirus situation, it said: "To mitigate the reduction in demand, we have already taken action to reduce variable costs including accessing furlough schemes where available and reducing temporary labour.

"While we recognise the need to retain flexibility as demand patterns develop over the coming months, we have taken the difficult decision to reduce the size of our global workforce by around 15 per cent, subject to ongoing consultation in the regions in which we operate.

"This action will ensure that our internal capacity across our civil aerospace business reflects the reduction in demand and positions us appropriately as we enter 2021."

The company was already in the process of merging five bases into the “supersite” in the Midlands.

Other cost-cutting actions at the group include reducing executive salaries by 20 per cent, freezing hiring and axing pay increases across its workforce, as well as reducing capital spend.

Plane giants such as Airbus and Boeing have halted or cut production after air travel has ground to a halt amid Covid-19 lockdowns worldwide.

But Meggitt said group revenue was up five per cent in the first quarter thanks to strong growth in defence more than offsetting the civil aerospace woes and soft performance in its energy business.

It is bracing for a "significant reduction" in demand across its civil aerospace business in 2020.