Bombardier 'Adjusts' Its CRJ Aircraft Production Rate, 715 Jobs Lost

It's, literally, a sign of the times. Bombardier has confirmed that the current economic and airline industry environments 'continue to make it difficult to gain new aircraft orders, particularly for the CRJ aircraft family.' Consequently, it will reduce its CRJ aircraft production rate.

The adjustment to the CRJ aircraft production rate will result in the layoff of approximately 715 employees in Bombardier Aerospace’s facilities in the Montréal area, starting January 2010 through to the first two quarters of the next fiscal year. The adjustment to the workforce level also reportedly includes a small number of layoffs related to the decrease in the Bombardier 415 amphibious aircraft production rate. Severance costs associated with this latest reduction in the employment level are approximately $10 million US. This is in addition to the approximately 4,360 layoffs previously announced this fiscal year for Bombardier Aerospace worldwide.

“There are not enough projected CRJ aircraft sales to maintain the current production plans,” stated Guy C. Hachey, President and Chief Operating Officer, Bombardier Aerospace.

“Although we are in discussions with several airlines, we had to finalize our aircraft delivery schedule for the next fiscal year. We fully recognize the impact this additional workforce reduction will have on our affected workers and their families.”

“We continue to invest in current and in future products, including the CRJ1000 NextGen, Learjet 85 and CSeries aircraft programs. In September, we broke ground for the first building of our new CSeries aircraft Mirabel facility, which will be used for ground testing and certification activities. More recently, we celebrated another major milestone in the CSeries aircraft program as construction got under way on our new state-of-the-art aircraft wing manufacturing and assembly facility in Belfast, Northern Ireland,” added Mr. Hachey.

Bombardier does note that it is currently recruiting for more than 500 positions for programs in the fields of production support and engineering, in accordance with their investments in continuging new aircraft programs.

FMI: www.bombardier.com