Bombardier
Bombardier expects layoffs as part of broader plans to cut excess capacity. Credit: Pete Webber via flickr.

Canadian business jet manufacturer Bombardier has warned of job cuts after reporting a loss in the third quarter driven by the Covid-19-induced market turbulence.

Flagged by the CEO Éric Martel, the redundancy exercise is part of the jet maker’s broader plans to reduce excess capacity and boost profitability.

Bombardier is currently working on divesting various assets, including its rail division, to French train maker Alstom. With these disposals, the company is now preparing to transform into a pure-play business jet manufacturer.

Bombardier did not provide additional detail on the layoffs but is sure that the cost reduction initiative will involve staff retrenchment.

Martel stated: “We are very excited about our future as a focused business jet company, about our opportunities to grow the services business and to leverage our industry-leading product portfolio.

“We look forward to sharing the details of our plans in the near future, as we finalise our debt management strategy and cost-cutting initiatives to ensure our profitability in the current market and strong growth once the pandemic subsides.”

Bombardier posted an adjusted third-quarter loss of $215m in the third quarter of 2020 versus a loss of $55m in the previous year. Revenue fell 5% year-on-year to $3.53bn.

However, the company’s performance got a boost with a 10% growth in business aircraft revenues, which reached $1.2bn on 24 deliveries.

Martel added: “In the third quarter, we made solid progress on each of these priorities. We secured additional liquidity with a new billion-dollar senior secured credit facility, we kept our divestitures moving forward as planned, and with deliveries ramping up across the businesses, we are still targeting break-even free-cash-flow for the second half of the year, assuming operations remain uninterrupted by the pandemic.”

In a separate development, Bombardier is facing a probe by the UK Serious Fraud Office over suspected bribery in aircraft sales to Indonesian carrier Garuda Indonesia.

Last month, Bombardier reached an amended definitive agreement with US manufacturer Spirit AeroSystems Holding for the sale of its aerostructures business.