Czech Aircraft Maker to Lay Off 400
Czech aircraft manufacturer Aero Vodochody will lay off 400
people from its work force of 2,000 by May due to lack of
contracts, officials said Monday. Vaclav Srba, the Czech deputy
minister of industry and trade, said the layoff plans was due to
low sales of the company's subsonic L-159 trainer jets.
State-controlled Aero has been in trouble since the fall of the
communist regime in the region and the loss of lucrative markets in
the former East Bloc. Attempting to save the company, the
government sold a 35.9 percent minority to The Boeing Co. in 1998
in hopes of tapping new markets.