PARIS - Louis Gallois, the newly appointed head of planemaker Airbus, warned on Tuesday that there would likely be "painful" job losses at Airbus in the wake of delays to the A380 superjumbo and a profit warning at the company.

"There will be job cuts," Gallois told France's Europe 1 radio station.

Gallois was named late on Monday as the new head of Airbus after Christian Streiff resigned following a spell of just three months at the job. He remains co-head of parent EADS.

Gallois said Airbus' cost-cutting measures would have to be evenly split between its French and German operations. He added that Airbus now had a more simplified management structure than before because of his double role.