Rolls-Royce cuts 9,000 jobs as airlines turn off engines

British plane engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce has announced it is expecting to cut around 9,000 staff, or 17 percent of its global workforce, in the aftermath of the economic downturn caused by the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The engineering giant, one of the United Kingdom's few world-class manufacturing companies, said the reduction of nearly a fifth of its workforce would mainly affect its civil aerospace division.

The Midlands-based company warned that it would take "several years" for the airline industry to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.