Bombardier’s Northern Ireland workforce and its suppliers North and South are looking forward to starting work on the biggest ever sales order, valued at $3.1 billion (€2.49bn), won by the Canadian aerospace group.
VistaJet, a luxury aviation company, has placed a firm order with Bombardier for 56 of its Global business jets.
The aviation company, which specialises in private jet charter and jet ownership, has also taken an option for a further 86 Global jets.
If the aviation company exercises all of its options this could boost the overall value of the new contract with Bombardier to $7.8 billion (€6bn)based on 2012 US list prices.
Deliveries of the first 56 aircraft to VistaJet are scheduled to begin in 2014.
Bombardier’s Belfast factory plays a key role in the design and manufacture of a range of components for the Global jet family.
Among the parts produced in Belfast are the forward fuselages, engine nacelles and horizontal stabilisers.
Bombardier’s local team said the major contract win was “very much welcome”.
“We in Belfast play a major role in the business jet sector – an important market which Bombardier leads. This order – the largest ever business aircraft sale in Bombardier’s history – will help to sustain jobs and secure our long-term future, in addition to benefiting our local supply chain,” said a spokesperson.
Bombardier, which operates from four sites in Northern Ireland, is the largest private sector employer in the North with a workforce of more than 5,000 people.
The North’s enterprise minister Arlene Foster has described the company, which has had a presence in Belfast since 1989, as “pivotal to the local economy”. She has welcomed the VistaJet order as a “welcome boost” not only for Bombardier’s workforce but for the local aerospace supply chain.
More than 8,000 people are employed in the aerospace sector in the North.
