Bombardier cutting 5,000 jobs

Bombardier Inc. announced Thursday it will shed 5,000 jobs company-wide and sell off two units as part of chief executive Alain Bellemare’s five-year plan to rein in costs, focus on rail and business jets and reduce the net longterm debt of $9 billion.

About 2,500 Bombardier workers will be laid off in Quebec and 600 in Ontario, with the 2,000 other cuts occurring overseas, according to a spokesman, who did not specify the units.

The company said it will sell its Q400 turboprop aircraft program to a subsidiary of Longview Aviation Capital Corp. for about US$300 million. The Montreal-based company also announced the sale of its flight training business to CAE Inc. for about US$645 million.

The restructuring, announced alongside Bombardier’s thirdquarter earnings, is slated for completion within 18 months and for savings of $250 million annually.

The announcement comes after mass layoffs over the past three years, with about 14,500 positions cut around the world in the aerospace and railway divisions.

Dropping the Q400 will allow Bombardier to zero in on producing its Global series of long-range business jets, including the Global 7500, whose first aircraft is slated for delivery next month.

“With the measures announced, we are confident that we will be able to reach our goals in 2020,” Bellemare said during a conference call.

Bombardier shares closed at $2.41 Thursday, a nosedive of more than 24 per cent to its lowest price in more than a year — and its biggest one-day drop since February 2015 — due to concerns over cash flow.

Bombardier forecast 2019 revenue to increase by 10 per cent to at least $18 billion, powered by more deliveries of its Global 7500s.