Close to 1,000 jobs are to be lost at Bombardier Aerospace in Belfast, the company announced today.
The company, which is the world's third largest civil aircraft manufacturer, employs more than 28,000 people worldwide.
Bombardier is one of the largest private sector employers in Northern Ireland. It has 5,300 permanent staff and an estimated 900 sub-contractors employed at its facilities in Belfast.
The company produces about 10 per cent of Northern Ireland’s total manufacturing exports and has an estimated annual spend of almost £140 million among some 800 suppliers in Northern Ireland, Britain and the Republic.
Bombardier said today it is to reduce its global workforce by about 10 per cent, leading to the loss of 3,000 jobs at facitiles in Belfast, Canada, the US and Mexico by the end of the year.
A total of 975 jobs are to go in Belfast, with 310 permanent staff losing their jobs as well as 665 contract workers.
This morning's announcement is in addition to the 1,360 layoffs announced on February 5th when Bombardier adjusted the production rates of its Learjet and Challenger aircraft. This led to the loss of 300 temporary jobs at the Belfast plant.
Severance costs associated with the layoffs are expected to total approximately $30 million.
Bombardier said the jobs losses were as a result of a downturn in the aviation sector. The company expects aircraft sales to fall 10 per cent this year.
It said there will be a 90-day consultation period with trade unions at the Belfast facility and stressed that it was seeking voluntary redundancies.
“We deeply regret the impact this will have on those affected and their families. Unfortunately, however, the force of this global recession is unprecedented, market conditions have worsened, and Bombardier is revising downwards most of its aircraft production rates and implementing measures to meet challenges facing the whole aviation industry. We need to do all we can to protect the business now so that when we come out of the recession we will be in a strong position," said a spokesperson for the company.
“We have proven in the past that we can overcome challenging times. Bombardier produced strong results for the past year. We are continuing to invest in the future, in new programmes like the CSeries where the total investment in Belfast is in excess of £500 million, including a new factory and equipment," the spokesperson added.
