In Spain, thousands protest at Airbus plans to axe 630 jobs Several hundreds of angry employees stage a protest outside the Airbus production facilities in Getafe, a southern suburb of Madrid, over the European plane-maker's plans to axe 630 jobs. Several thousand Airbus employees staged protests outside seven other production facilities across the country. The Spanish layoffs are part of a wider cut aimed at axing 2,362 posts across Europe, including 829 in Germany, 404 in France, 357 in the United Kingdom and 142 in other countries. Airbus said the cuts would take effect in the next two years in its defence and space division, which accounts for 15 percent of the group's overall revenue. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES