Bombardier to cut about 7000 jobs, hire for growth areas

The company – which now employs around 5,000 in Belfast, added that another 500 jobs may go in 2017. Bombardier has a deal to sell Air Canada 45 CSeries jets, with an option to buy up to 30 more.

Air Canada announced it has entered into a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Bombardier Inc. for the acquisition of up to 75 Bombardier CS300 aircraft powered by Pratt & Whitney PurePower PW1500G engines as part of its narrow-body fleet renewal plan.

Bombardier Inc. expects to get certification from USA and European authorities for its new C Series jet in the first half of this year, and will deliver initial models to launch customer Swiss International Air Lines AG on time, one of the Canadian planemaker’s top executives said.

They will be “partially offsetting” this change, by hiring in certain growth areas, especially to ramp up production of some products, such as the C Series. The troubled CSeries has not had an order in more than a year and Canada’s Liberal government is now considering whether to invest in the program. Layoff notices are expected to be issued in the coming weeks and completed by next year.

The number of employees directly assigned to the C Series program has increased in the past few months, reaching 3,450 employees worldwide, Bombardier said.

Dr Farry said: “The job losses announced today by Bombardier are extremely regrettable, not only for those who have lost their jobs, but also for the families, communities and the economy as a whole”. It has 64,000 employees globally.

“While the company has made it clear their decision is as a result of inescapable global economic factors, the impact is very real for those affected, and for the wider economy”, the Ministers said.

Bombardier said it hopes Ottawa will come through on its request for financial assistance for the CSeries, just as the Quebec government has done in providing US$1 billion in support. The company based in Montréal now has 678 total orders and commitments for the CSeries, including 243 firm orders, well behind the volume necessary to consider the CS 300 a cost-effective project.

Air Canada’s net loss widened to $116 million, or 41 cents per share, in the quarter ended December 31, from $100 million, or 35 cents per share, a year earlier.

The company said no jobs will be cut from its commercial aircraft unit.

Since receiving the cash injection from Quebec, Bombardier’s stock had fallen 40 percent to a record low of 72 Canadian cents (US$0.52) on Friday. Bombardier announced that the company will execute a reverse share split, resulting in a share price of $10-20. Revenue dropped 16% to $5.02 billion, trailing the $5.51 billion average forecast.