Third time's a charm--at least that's what Airbus management is hoping as it embarks on its most ambitious effort to date to overhaul the company.

History doesn't favor the manufacturer, though. When Airbus became an integrated company in 2000, melding its French, German, British and Spanish constituents, it remained saddled with structural and cultural problems. Next came the Route06 cost-cutting program, which fell short of its financial goals. Will the latest effort, Power8, with its proposed 10,000 job cuts and structural overhaul fare any better?

Airbus President/CEO Louis Gallois says the company has no choice but to succeed. And, he insists, this new plan incorporates important structural changes that should have been implemented more than six years ago.

However, in many areas Airbus is not going as far as others (including Boeing and Embraer), in terms of shedding activities and relying on partners. "We feel we have to find our own way," Gallois asserts.

Financial analysts like what they see. One, who asked not to be named, says Power8 is "astonishingly radical" in terms of its scope, and expresses confidence that Gallois had the right plan for Airbus. He adds that the program is "very complex" and given the large amount of production and development work at stake, the risks are "huge."

The core elements of the plan should be in place within 12-18 months, providing a clearer assessment of its ultimate success or failure.

Airbus is looking for investors to shoulder the cost of transitioning three facilities into so-called Extended Enterprise sites (see box). The money, around ¬150 million ($196.5 million) in the case of wing-facility Filton, would be needed to introduce tooling for composite parts where metallic work was previously done. The negotiations and due diligence needed to cement the partnership deals could run into 2008, says Airbus CFO Hans-Peter Ring.

As part of the restructuring, supplier relationships would also change. Airbus wants partners to commit to long-term cost reductions. The same goes for facilities that are to be shed, either through sales or management buyout--the sites are being assured of continued work on the current Airbus product portfolio.

The primary goal of the new relationships is to reduce Airbus's cost base, Ring says, although the transactions could generate near-term cash. But the financial analyst says Airbus will likely "give the facilities away for free" if it can lock in long-term financial gains. Even if the sales generate zero revenue, he adds, Power8 can be a success.

Gallois says that next year he will assess whether job cuts to reduce the company's cost base are progressing at the necessary rate. Airbus hopes to rely on attrition through retirement and early-retirement offers, but it may have to resort to other measures if an incentive-based approach doesn't yield results.