OTTAWA — Bombardier, the Canadian aerospace and railway equipment maker, said on Thursday that it would lay off about 1,000 employees and post a $1.4 billion write-down as a result of its decision to suspend development of the Learjet 85 business aircraft.þþThe move, which was not widely expected, was made as investors grew uneasy over delays for the CSeries airliner, Bombardier’s largest aircraft and its first direct challenge to Airbus and Boeing.þþBombardier said it did not expect the plane, now in flight testing, to be in commercial use until the end of 2015, two years behind schedule. Many analysts said that next year was more likely.þþThe 10-seat Learjet 85 is also late. The company attributed the delay to weak buyer interest and did not indicate when development would resume.þþ“Bombardier constantly monitors its product strategy and development priorities,” said Pierre Beaudoin, Bombardier’s president and chief. He added, “But it is a pause — we really believe in that aircraft.”þþA plant in Wichita, Kan., where the plane is built, is taking the brunt of the cutbacks with 620 jobs affected. The remaining job losses are in Querétaro, Mexico.þþBombardier will take a $1.4 billion pretax charge in the fourth quarter, according to its news release.þþThe latest layoffs come after a string of reductions in the company’s work force in the last year. In July, Bombardier said it was cutting 1,800 jobs worldwide as it restructured operations. And last January, Bombardier announced a work force reduction of about 1,700 employees and contractors at facilities in the United States and Canada, including 550 in Wichita at that time.
Source: NY Times
