UK jobs in firing line amid turbulence for Bombardier

BOMBARDIER is to axe 2,500 jobs amid a wave of cutbacks as the aerospace industry reels from a collapse in flights worldwide.

Hundreds of roles are thought to be at risk in Northern Ireland, where Bombardier is the biggest employer with 3,500 staff. Workers in Belfast produce components for the company’s business jets, as well as large parts for the Airbus A220, which was previously at the centre of a trade row.

It has not yet said how many jobs will go in Northern Ireland. Canada-based Bombardier said the majority of redundancies will be in its home nation.

The company added that business jet deliveries are forecast to fall 30pc due to the pandemic. It said: “Bombardier must adjust its operations and workforce to ensure that it emerges from the current crisis on a solid footing.”

Bombardier announced in April that it would shut production for at least four weeks at its Northern Ireland factories and furlough non-critical staff.

The firm has about 60,000 employees worldwide between its aerospace and rail divisions.

Last month, Bombardier warned that production would be unable to continue at its train factory in Derby without government support. It was forced to suspend operations at the plant, which has about 2,000 staff, and sought relief from penalty clauses relating to delays on train contracts.

The job losses are just the latest in the aviation industry and come after Rolls-royce said it would ditch 9,000 jobs – about a fifth of its workforce. Fellow aerospace business GKN has started a voluntary redundancy programme and, earlier this week, Thompson Aero Seating said it was seeking up to 500 redundancies.