Bombardier to cut 1,750 jobs, pare output

MAY 14, 20158:46 PM

[MONTREAL] Bombardier Inc is cutting about 1,750 jobs as it reduces output of its biggest business jets to bring production in line with shrinking demand from Russian oligarchs and Chinese billionaires.

The pullback in production effects the Global 5000 and 6000 jets Bombardier said in a statement on Thursday without specifying how much the line would slow.

Citing "softness" in Latin America, China and Russia, Bombardier on May 7 announced its intention to trim production of the jets as it reported first-quarter results. The cuts build on 1,000 positions Bombardier said it would eliminate in January as it halted work on the Learjet 85.

"It's important that we align demand and offer," Eric Martel, president of Bombardier Business Aircraft, said in an interview Wednesday from Montreal. "We have to face reality." About 4,500 people work on the Global 5000 and 6000 programs at Bombardier facilities in Toronto, Montreal and Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Business jet sales had been booming in Russia until oil prices started falling last year, Mr Martel said in the interview. Sanctions imposed by Canada, the US and the European Union - aimed at forcing Russia to drop support for separatists in Ukraine - only compounded the problem.

BLOOMBERG