Bombardier cuts jobs as demand for Global 5000s and Global 6000s falls

Bombardier Business Aircraft is cutting 1,750 jobs due to a fall in demand for Bombardier Global aircraft. The cuts will affect up to 1,000 people in the Montréal region, up to 480 in Toronto and up to 280 in Belfast. Most of the people losing jobs work on Global 5000 and Global 6000 aircraft.

Employees will leave between June 2015 and March 2016.

“We fully understand the impact this will have on our affected employees and their families and we will do everything possible to support them.”

“We have seen an industry-wide softness in demand recently in certain international markets and are taking steps to adjust our production accordingly,” said Éric Martel, President, Bombardier Business Aircraft in a statement. “We fully understand the impact this will have on our affected employees and their families and we will do everything possible to support them.”

Speaking during the company’s first quarter investor relations call this week, new president and ceo Alain Bellamare said that although orders are still healthy for the LearJet and Challenger lines, they are seeing a slow-down in demand for Global 5000 and Global 6000 from China, Latin America and Russia.

“Bombardier constantly monitors the market and adjusts to trends and opportunities. Despite this short-term softness in international markets, we are well positioned to be the market share leader in the segments where we compete,” said Martel in the statement.

In February 2015 Bombardier had delivered more than 600 Global family-aircraft. The total Global fleet has flown for more than 1.5 million flight hours and landed 570,000 times. The first Global 5000 was delivered 10 years ago on  April 18, 2005. The first Global 6000 was delivered in 2006.