FEARS are growing that hundreds of jobs are to be slashed at the Airbus wing factory at Broughton.

It follows a slump in demand for aircraft after the terror attacks on the US on September 11.

Unions and management are continuing talks on ways of achieving economies but have refused to say how many workers are to go.

Claims that up to 1,200 jobs will be lost have been rejected. Neither side is ruling out the possibility of cuts ­ but not on the scale predicted by some observers at the weekend.

Engineering union official Alwyn Rowlands said the figure was calculated on the mistaken assumption that a 25% cut in orders will mean to a 25% cut in jobs.

Unions are now working with bosses to minimise the impact of falling orders and airline cutbacks and closures following last month's attacks on New York and Washington.

Mr Rowlands said it was hoped to ballot union members on measures to be put together over the next few weeks 'to alleviate the necessity to offload close on 1,000 jobs from the site'.

Unions are thought to be pressing for any redundancies to be voluntary and for guarantees that anyone leaving the plant will be offered their jobs back in the event of an upturn.

The company says it is aiming to minimise cuts in its 5,000-strong Broughton workforce by halting further recruitment, introducing a shorter working week, cutting overtime and ordering holiday shutdowns.

'Up until now, recruitment has gone ahead as planned and we are still honouring our commitment to all our apprentices, including the 117 we took on in September,' said a spokesman.

Broughton planned to produce 400 Airbus wingsets next year but has now been forced to cut back to between 300 and 320.

The European Airbus consortium is seeking savings of up to £370m next year but says work on a £100m factory to produce wings for the A380 super-jumbo at Broughton will continue as planned.

No major sales agreements have been cancelled or postponed and the company remains 'cautiously optimistic' about winning new orders. Leading operators Virgin, Singapore Airlines, Air France, Qantas and Emirates have so far signed up for 67 of the 555-seat jetliners.

The industry was already reeling following last month's announcement that American arch-rival Boeing is to axe 20,000-30,000 jobs before the end of the year.

A further jolt came this week when Airbus partners BAE Systems confirmed the axing of regional jet programmes at Preston, Manchester, Bristol and Prestwick in Scotland with the loss of 1,700 jobs.

Alyn and Deeside MP Mark Tami, who is liaising with Airbus unions and management, believes forecasts of up to 1,200 job losses at Broughton are 'pessimistic'.

The Labour MP is urging the Government to recognise the problems facing the industry and to throw it a lifeline.