Guest Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 Bombardier Aviation Announces Workforce Adjustments in Response to COVID-19 Pandemic 5 June 2020Canadian Aviation News From Bombardier Business Aircraft MONTREAL, June 05, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Bombardier Aviation announced today that it would adjust its workforce to align with current market conditions reflecting the extraordinary industry interruptions and challenges caused by COVID-19. When the pandemic first arose, Bombardier Aviation responded quickly, suspending manufacturing operations to support local government efforts to slow the spread of the virus and to protect the health and safety of employees, partners and customers. Over the past month, Bombardier Aviation guided by health professionals and industry best practices, implemented comprehensive procedures and safeguards to further protect employees and communities as manufacturing operations resumed. Now with business jet deliveries, industry-wide, forecasted to be down approximately 30% year-over-year due to the pandemic, Bombardier must adjust its operations and workforce to ensure that it emerges from the current crisis on solid footing. Accordingly, Bombardier Aviation has made the difficult decision to reduce its workforce by approximately 2,500 employees. The majority of these reductions will impact manufacturing operations in Canada and will be carried out progressively throughout 2020. Bombardier’s worldwide customer service operations have continued to operate largely uninterrupted throughout the pandemic. Bombardier expects to record a special charge of approximately $40M in 2020 for this workforce adjustment and will provide further information on its market outlook when it reports its second quarter financial results on August 6, 2020. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 Bombardier to lay off 2,500 aviation workers amid COVID-19 struggles Social Sharing Facebook Twitter Email Reddit LinkedIn Most layoffs to take place in Canadian manufacturing facilities Franca G. Mignacca · CBC · Posted: Jun 05, 2020 6:50 AM ET | Last Updated: 2 hours ago Bombardier, which made massive changes in its aviation businesses prior to the global pandemic, is now facing major revenue drops. (Tijana Martin/The Canadian Press) 214 comments Bombardier will lay off 2,500 aviation workers throughout the year as the company struggles to keep its operations afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a release Friday morning, the Quebec-based transportation company said the aerospace industry as a whole is expecting to see a 30 per cent year-over-year loss in business jet sales, forcing it to reduce its workforce. In a statement to Radio-Canada Friday, the company said 1,500 of the permanent layoffs will be in its Quebec facilities and 400 in Ontario, with the rest of the layoffs in its international facilities. The layoffs come just days after Bombardier made its official exit from the commercial airplane industry, selling off its CRJ regional jet program to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. for $550 million US on Monday. "Our sales books are still quite full in the long term, but we still had to adjust to the reality we're going to be facing from now until the end of the year," Bombardier spokesperson Mark Masluch said in an interview Friday morning. "That said, in our collective agreement and in the way we work, there is always the opportunity to call back our workforce if there's a rebound in the market." Bombardier paused all operations in March in an effort to protect employees from the spread of the novel coronavirus. It gradually resumed operations again last month, but had already reported a loss of $200 million US in its first quarter. Bombardier had been in trouble long before the start of the pandemic. According to an estimate from September 2019, the company was facing almost $10 billion US in debt. History of government bailouts The layoffs are just the latest in a slew of struggles for the aerospace giant. In 2015, former Quebec premier Philippe Couillard came under fire when he agreed to provide Bombardier with a $1.32 billion bailout, in hopes of saving jobs in the province. In return, the province would gain a 49.5 per cent stake in the company's C-series program, later referred to as the A220. The government made a 20-year commitment to the project. In 2015, just as Justin Trudeau was first sworn in as prime minister, Bombardier called on the federal government to match the $1 billion investment. Although the Canadian government did not agree to those terms, it did provide the company with $372.5 million in interest-free loans in 2017. Despite all that, Bombardier sold its A220 program last February, in an effort to pay off a multibillion-dollar debt. That same month, the company sold its rail-building unit to French train giant Alstom SA, marking its exit from the rail business. No more help from province In February, Quebec Premier François Legault insisted the province was done injecting money into the 83-year-old company. "The government has already invested a lot of money in Bombardier," he said at the time, calling Couillard's investment a "mistake." As of Friday, Bombardier has 8,200 employees in Quebec and 2,100 in Ontario. With files from Radio-Canada and The Canadian Press Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 9, 2020 Share Posted November 9, 2020 UK fraud office probes Bombardier over suspected bribery in airplane sales 8 November 2020Canadian Aviation News Link to Story Source: Global News By Kirstin Ridley, Allison Lampert and Tim Hepher Reuters | November 5, 2020 The UK Serious Fraud Office announced on Thursday it was investigating Canadian industrial group Bombardier over suspected bribery in airplane sales to Garuda Indonesia, widening a global anti-corruption drive in aerospace. The plane and train maker is the latest aerospace group to face scrutiny over the use of middlemen after authorities struck a record bribery settlement with Europe’s Airbus in January and a 2017 plea deal with British engine maker Rolls-Royce. Both settlements involved sales of planes or engines to Garuda and airlines in other countries. “The SFO is investigating Bombardier Inc over suspected bribery and corruption in relation to contracts and/or orders from Garuda Indonesia,” the agency said on Thursday. “As this is a live investigation, the SFO can provide no further comment,” it added. In Montreal, Bombardier said it had been informed about the SFO probe several weeks ago and would cooperate. It has appointed external lawyers to run an internal review. Shares in the company, which also reported results on Thursday, fell more than 3% after the SFO’s announcement. They ended down 1.7%. At the center of the case, Bombardier said, are five procurement processes involving different manufacturers, including the 2011-2012 acquisition and lease of Bombardier CRJ1000 regional aircraft by Garuda. Bombardier, which has undergone several changes of leadership after costly industrial bets in the past decade, said the SFO was investigating the same transactions that led to a former CEO of Garuda Indonesia being convicted in May. It sold six CRJ1000 regional jets to Garuda in 2012 and simultaneously leased a number of similar jets. Garuda now has 18 of the jets in its fleet, according to its website. Irfan Setiaputra, Garuda’s current CEO, said in a statement on Friday the airline would cooperate with relevant authorities. Indonesia’s state-owned enterprises minister Erick Thohir also said the government would cooperate. An Indonesian court in May handed Emirsyah Satar, Garuda chief executive from 2005 to 2014, an eight-year jail sentence for bribery and money-laundering related to procurement of planes and engines from Airbus and Rolls-Royce. In 2017, Rolls-Royce agreed to pay more than $800 million to defer charges after an investigation by the SFO and U.S. Justice Department into alleged bribery of officials in six countries. Airbus in February agreed to pay a record $4 billion in fines after reaching a plea bargain with prosecutors in Britain, France and United States over alleged bribery and corruption stretching back at least 15 years. SFO approached Bombardier Under a system of deferred prosecution agreements available to the SFO, companies can be offered the chance to settle cases with a fine and escape corporate criminal charges by helping to investigate themselves and undergoing radical internal changes. Bombardier Chief Executive Eric Martel, who started his role in April, told reporters the SFO had come to Bombardier with its suspicions. “We got contacted a couple of weeks ago and we’re going to offer our support so they can do the investigation they need to do,” he said. “We were not aware of any issue internally,” he added. Under the system of plea bargains used in UK corruption cases, companies can be at a disadvantage if the probe was thrust upon them but win more lenient fines if they bring potential wrongdoing to the attention of authorities themselves. Nonetheless, Rolls-Royce avoided a larger fine by demonstrating what a British judge described as “extraordinary” co-operation even after the probe was instigated by the SFO. Airbus has undergone a radical overhaul of its top ranks since reporting itself to the SFO in 2016. The four-year probe however weighed on sales and relationships with airlines and led to in-fighting over who should carry the blame for using agents. Bombardier has already undergone significant upheaval since 2015 while trying to bring a larger narrowbody jet to market. It completed an exit from commercial aviation this year by selling its money-losing regional jet business to Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to focus on more profitable business jets. (Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru, Kirstin Ridley in London, Allison Lampert in Montreal, Tim Hepher in Paris, Bernadette Christina Munthe in Jakarta; Writing by Kirstin Ridley and Tim Hepher; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise, David Gregorio and Edwina Gibbs) © 2020 Reuters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest1 Posted February 11, 2021 Share Posted February 11, 2021 Bombardier announces the elimination of 1,600 positions and end of the Learjet The Canadian PressStaff Contact Published Thursday, February 11, 2021 7:23AM ESTLast Updated Thursday, February 11, 2021 10:12AM EST Bombardier said Thursday it will reduce its overall workforce by about 1,600 jobs as it moves to cut costs. SHARE: Reddit Share MONTREAL -- Bombardier Inc. said Thursday it will reduce its overall workforce by about 1,600 jobs as it moves to cut costs. The company said it is making the cuts as it consolidates its Global aircraft completion work in Montreal and reviews options for underutilized hangar and industrial space at its Quebec facilities. "Workforce reductions are always very difficult, and we regret seeing talented and dedicated employees leave the company for any reason," Bombardier chief executive Eric Martel said in a statement. Related Stories Bombardier says net proceeds from deal with Alstom lower due to market conditions Related Links Bombardier - Full Year 2020 Financial Results "But these reductions are absolutely necessary for us to rebuild our company while we continue to navigate through the pandemic." Bombardier also said it will end production of Learjet aircraft later this year, allowing it to focus on its more profitable Challenger and Global aircraft families. "Passengers all over the world love to fly this exceptional aircraft and count on its unmatched performance and reliability. However, given the increasingly challenging market dynamics, we have made this difficult decision to end Learjet production," Martel said. Bombardier said it will continue to fully support the Learjet fleet and launched Thursday a remanufacturing program for Learjet 40 and Learjet 45 aircraft. The company said the cuts will bring its global workforce to 13,000 by the end of the year. The moves came as Bombardier, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported a net loss of US$337 million or 18 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Dec. 31 compared with a net loss of US$1.72 billion or 74 cents per diluted share a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter totalled US$2.34 billion, down from US$2.41 billion. On an adjusted basis, Bombardier says it lost 20 cents per share in its most recent quarter compared with a break even result on an adjusted basis in the fourth quarter of 2019. Bombardier completed the sale of its rail business to Alstom last month, the culmination of a plan by the Montreal-based company to focus on business jets. Net proceeds from the sale were US$3.6 billion, down from the US$4 billion it had expected in September. In its outlook, the company said 2021 will be a transition year and that business aircraft revenue this year expected to be better than 2020 based on a gradual economic recovery scenario. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 11, 2021 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest1 Posted May 7, 2021 Share Posted May 7, 2021 Bombardier says U.S. joins investigation into Indonesian jet deals By Allison Lampert and Tim Hepher 12 hrs ago By Allison Lampert and Tim Hepher MONTREAL (Reuters) -The United States has joined an international investigation into suspected bribery related to decade-old sales of Bombardier jets to Garuda Indonesia, the Canadian planemaker said on Thursday. Bombardier, the latest aerospace group to face scrutiny over middlemen in past jet deals, said the U.S. Department of Justice requested documents and information in February relating to the acquisition and lease of its CRJ1000 aircraft to the Indonesian airline between 2011 and 2012. A Bombardier spokesman said the company was cooperating fully. In November, Britain's Serious Fraud Office said it was investigating Bombardier over suspected bribery in the transactions. Authorities in Britain, France and the United States struck a record $4 billion bribery settlement with Europe's Airbus last year, as well as an $800 million plea deal with British engine maker Rolls-Royce in 2017. Both settlements covered sales of planes or engines to several airlines including Garuda. Garuda could not be reached for comment outside business hours. In May 2020, an Indonesian court handed Emirsyah Satar, Garuda chief executive from 2005 to 2014, an eight-year jail sentence for bribery and money-laundering related to the procurement of planes and engines from Airbus and Rolls-Royce. In November, after Britain's SFO announced its investigation into Bombardier, Garuda's current CEO and the Indonesia government pledged to cooperate with relevant authorities. NO 'SELF REPORT' Bombardier has undergone several changes of leadership since the deals and has sold most aerospace activities, including the CRJ regional jets. Its new management now faces parallel probes that can take years, according to lawyers familiar with similar cases, and can also require the company to dive deep into its records using outside lawyers. Under deferred prosecution agreements used in past aerospace corruption probes in Britain, the United States and elsewhere, companies suspected of corruption can avoid corporate criminal charges by paying fines and making sweeping internal changes. Fines can be reduced if a company takes any suspicions it may have about its conduct directly to prosecutors, a process known as "self-reporting," before being approached by them. Airbus last year won a discounted fine for such early disclosure, but only after cooperation that included mounting its own four-year investigation spanning 60 million documents held by 800 people, forensic data firm FRA told the BBC. Bombardier says its own sequence of events was different. "When the SFO reached out we knew nothing about this. And then yes we started our own investigation internally," Chief Executive Eric Martel told reporters. "So far we’ve been looking at it since the SFO reached out and now the DOJ is reaching out but you know on our side we haven’t found anything. But we will definitely continue to collaborate." Britain's Rolls-Royce failed to approach the SFO first but still avoided a larger fine by later showing what a British judge termed "extraordinary" cooperation. This week, the SFO ended a separate criminal investigation into individuals associated with Airbus, according sources familiar with the investigation. (Reporting by Allison Lampert, Tim Hepher and Bernadette Christina; Editing by David Clarke and David Gregorio) Bombardier says U.S. joins investigation into Indonesian jet deals (msn.com) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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