Bombardier will lay off 2,500 aviation workers throughout the year as the company struggles to keep its operations afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a release Friday morning, the Quebec-based transportation company said the aerospace industry as a whole is expecting to see a 30 per cent year-over-year loss in business jet sales, forcing it to reduce its workforce.
In a statement to Radio-Canada Friday, the company said 1,500 of the permanent layoffs will be in its Quebec facilities and 400 in Ontario, with the rest of the layoffs in its international facilities.
The layoffs come just days after Bombardier made its official exit from the commercial airplane industry, selling off its CRJ regional jet program to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. for $550 million US on Monday.
"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 paused all operations in March in an effort to protect employees from the spread of the novel coronavirus.
It gradually resumed operations again last month, but had already reported a loss of $200 million US in its first quarter.
Bombardier had been in trouble long before the start of the pandemic. According to an estimate from September 2019, the company was facing almost $10 billion US in debt.
History of government bailouts
The layoffs are just the latest in a slew of struggles for the aerospace giant.
In 2015, former Quebec premier Philippe Couillard came under fire when he agreed to provide Bombardier with a $1.32 billion bailout, in hopes of saving jobs in the province.
In return, the province would gain a 49.5 per cent stake in the company's C-series program, later referred to as the A220. The government made a 20-year commitment to the project.
In 2015, just as Justin Trudeau was first sworn in as prime minister, Bombardier called on the federal government to match the $1 billion investment.
Although the Canadian government did not agree to those terms, it did provide the company with $372.5 million in interest-free loans in 2017.
Despite all that, Bombardier sold its A220 program last February, in an effort to pay off a multibillion-dollar debt.
That same month, the company sold its rail-building unit to French train giant Alstom SA, marking its exit from the rail business.
No more help from province
In February, Quebec Premier François Legault insisted the province was done injecting money into the 83-year-old company.
"The government has already invested a lot of money in Bombardier," he said at the time, calling Couillard's investment a "mistake."
As of Friday, Bombardier has 8,200 employees in Quebec and 2,100 in Ontario.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMidmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNiYy5jYS9uZXdzL2NhbmFkYS9tb250cmVhbC9ib21iYXJkaWVyLXRvLWxheS1vZmYtMi01MDAtYXZpYXRpb24td29ya2Vycy1hbWlkLWNvdmlkLTE5LXN0cnVnZ2xlcy0xLjU1OTk2NjXSASBodHRwczovL3d3dy5jYmMuY2EvYW1wLzEuNTU5OTY2NQ?oc=5
2020-06-05 14:04:00Z
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