Business

Almost 100 more jobs set to go at Bombardier in Belfast

Bombardier's announcement of 95 potential redundancies comes two months after it announced more than 600 jobs were to be lost. Picture by Mal McCann
Bombardier's announcement of 95 potential redundancies comes two months after it announced more than 600 jobs were to be lost. Picture by Mal McCann Bombardier's announcement of 95 potential redundancies comes two months after it announced more than 600 jobs were to be lost. Picture by Mal McCann

Almost 100 more workers are set to lose their jobs at Bombardier's aircraft manufacturing plant in Belfast.

The company announcement of 95 potential redundancies comes two months after it announced more than 600 jobs were to be lost at its operations in the east of the city - 400 core staff and 200-plus contractors.

Bombardier announced the further redundancies this afternoon.

"Following our June announcement of a workforce reduction as a result of extraordinary industry interruptions and challenges caused by Covid-19, we have completed another review of our Belfast requirements for all our aircraft programmes," the company said.

"In light of additional softening of market demand for the remainder of this year and through 2021, we regret to confirm that we must make a further downward adjustment to our workforce levels.

"An additional 95 Bombardier core employee jobs in Northern Ireland are at risk of redundancy. The company will be lodging a formal HR1 redundancy notice with the Department for the Economy, following which there will be a 30-day consultation period when we will explore every opportunity to mitigate the number of redundancies.

"We deeply regret the impact this will have on our workforce and their families, but it is essential we align our business with current market realities to ensure we have a sustainable long-term future."

The job losses announced in June were part of Bombardier plans for 2,500 redundancies across its worldwide aviation operations.

At the time, it cited an anticipated 30% drop in sales of its jets.

Before June's announcement, Bombardier employed around 3,300 core staff in Belfast.