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The 83 year old Quebec based transportation and aviation company Bombardier said on Friday (June 5) that it will lay off 2,500 workers from the aviation operations of the company due to COVID-19 impact on its markets.
Bombardier said that the majority of the workforce reductions will impact manufacturing operations in Canada and will happen gradually throughout the year.
The aviation firm says it has to adjust its operations to ensure it emerges from the Coronavirus pandemic crisis in a strong position.
“Aerospace Industry expects that business jet deliveries to be down by 30 per cent year-over-year due to the pandemic,” it added. The company struggles to keep its operations afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the statement, the company said that 1,500 of the permanent layoffs will be in its Quebec facilities and another 400 in Ontario, with the rest of the layoffs in its international operations. As of Friday, Bombardier has 8,200 employees in Quebec and 2,100 in Ontario.
Earlier on Monday (June 1), Bombardier had made its official exit from the commercial airplane industry, selling off its CRJ regional jet program to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. for US $550 million.
“Our sales books are still quite full in the long term, but we still had to adjust to the reality we’re going to be facing from now until the end of the year,” Bombardier spokesperson Mark Masluch said in an interview Friday morning. “That said, in our collective agreement and in the way we work, there is always the opportunity to call back our workforce if there’s a rebound in the market.”
Bombardier that had already reported a loss of $200 million US in its first quarter had resumed gradual operations only last month since it paused all operations in March to prevent its employees from the spread of the novel coronavirus. According to an estimate from September 2019, the company was facing almost US $10 billion in debt.
