Bombardier to jettison 715 staff in Montreal
MONTREAL–Bombardier Aerospace says a lack of new orders will force it to lay off an additional 715 workers at its Montreal-area facilities next year as it reduces production of its CRJ regional jets.
Thursday’s announcement came two weeks after Bombardier president, Pierre Beaudoin, warned of impending job losses. The cuts are in addition to 4,360 layoffs previously announced this fiscal year for the firm’s worldwide operations.
"The economic circumstances and the situation with the airline industry continue to make it difficult to get new CRJ orders," spokesman Marc Duchesne said.
The 715 layoffs include about 40 employees affected by the reduced output rate for its Bombardier 415 amphibious aircraft.
About 200 of the affected workers are administrative. The remaining 515 are unionized employees who can now exercise their rights to bump workers with less seniority.
The move doesn’t reduce production of business jets, which decreased earlier this year as the company forecast deliveries would fall by 25 per cent this year.
Any additional cuts to business jet production, should they be required, could be announced Dec. 3 when the company discloses its third-quarter results immediate payday loans online. There were 116 regional jets in Bombardier’s backlog of orders as of July 31.
A campaign to increase that total attracted just one letter of interest for 22 CRJ700s from American Airlines. But Duchesne said the layoffs don’t mark the death of the CRJ. Bombardier’s latest market forecast calls for 5,800 planes over the next 20 years.
Benoit Poirier of Desjardins Securities said the reduced production rate was widely expected. Bombardier doesn’t disclose daily production rates or aircraft production forecasts. But Poirier said in a note on Thursday that he expects Bombardier will deliver 52 regional jets this fiscal year, ending Jan. 31, and 45 in fiscal 2011. It has delivered 37 so far this year.
The latest layoffs will begin in January and will last through the first two quarters of the next fiscal year.
Bombardier said costs associated with the layoffs will be about $10 million (U.S.). On the TSX, Bombardier shares fell 18 cents to $4.60.
The Canadian Press