Belfast-based aircraft maker Shorts has become the latest victim of the dramatic downturn in the aviation industry. The company said today it is to dramatically scale back its operations with the threatened loss of 2,000 jobs.
Fears of job cuts grew in Belfast in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the US two weeks ago. The aviation industry has felt the brunt of a severe downturn in global demand following the attacks which have left almost 7,000 people dead or missing.
Shorts’s parent company, Canadian firm Bombardier Aerospace has suffered along with the rest of the aviation sector. Bombardier shares have plummeted by 50 per cent since the September 11th atrocities.
SDLP Enterprise spokesman Mr Alasdair McDonnell said the losses will have a "devastating effect" on the North’s economy.
Mr McDonnell urged the North’s Enterprise Minister Sir Reg Empey to redouble his efforts to attract news investment into Northern Ireland.
The UUP leader Mr David Trimble called for the British government to follow the US lead and introduce measures to financially assist struggling airlines.
"This would greatly help the aircraft industry make a determined and speedy recovery."
Mr Trimble said he hoped the downturn would be purely temporary and but warned the news showed Northern Ireland was not immune to the influence of global events.