Bombardier to cut 7,000 jobs in Canada and Europe

Bombardier, the Canadian aerospace and rail equipment maker with operations in Burton on Trent, Crewe, Derby and Plymouth, has said it will slash around 7,000 jobs from its workforce over the next two years.

As well as announcing fourth quarter results showing net loss per share reduced by two thirds, the Montreal-based group explained that most of the job losses will be in Canada and Europe, with 2,000 of the cuts affecting contractors, and beginning in the coming weeks

Bombardier said the reduction in headcount will be partly offset by hiring in certain areas such as to support the ramp-up of projects such as the C Series aircraft family, which is manufactured in Mirabel, Québec.

This was boosted by a fresh order from Air Canada for 45 of the company's CS300 aircraft with the option for a further 30 planes.

For the company's aerospace operations in Belfast, around 580 cuts will be made this year, of which 200 permanent jobs are likely to require redundancies, plus a further potential reduction of roughly 500 next year.

Bombardier's UK Transportation arm said just a total of "around 270" staff were affected by the reduction, of which less than 50 permanent employees.

"We are unable to give details regarding adjustments at specific sites as we are currently reviewing the overall picture in the UK," a spokesman said.

Chief executive Alain Bellemare said Bombardier, which has an backlog of $59.2bn, was being turned around "to make this great company stronger and more competitive”.

“Over the past year, we renewed our leadership team and developed a clear plan to significantly improve our performance. We de-risked major development programs and stabilized the company, securing our liquidity position and taking a series of actions to rebuild margins.”

On the worksforce "optimisation" plan, Bellemare added that manpower was being adjusted to reflect current market conditions.

“These adjustments are always difficult. They are important to ensure that, with our 64,000 employees worldwide, we continue to create superior value for our customers, be more competitive, and deliver improved financial performance,” he added.

An official statement from Bombardier Transport UK said the company needed "to continuously match our workforce to work load", so after completing projects for commuter and metro lines it was "reviewing and right-sizing our organization in line with business requirements".

Fourth-quarter results for the group as a whole showed revenues of $18.2bn, with EBIT before special items of $554m.

Special items of $5.6bn were taken, mainly resulting from a review of the business and de-risking of aircraft programs.]

Confirmation of the restructuring helped Bombardier's stock move higher away from last Tuesday's 25-year lows.